Market women call for more interest in markets
The Market Women’s Association (MWA) has called on local authorities to show more interest in the issues of markets and market women across the country.
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They are also calling on the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), the Local Government Service Secretariat (LGSS) and the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) to encourage local authorities to involve women in decision making at the local level, especially on issues which affect them.
“Assemblies should endeavour to engage women fully in all decisions, plans and budgets, particularly those that involve the market, and provide timely feedback to our concerns,” a communiqué said.
Communiqué
The communiqué was issued at the end of a two-day conference held in Accra on the theme: “Empowering Market Women for Economic Prosperity.”
The forum, which brought together market women from across the 10 regions, offered the participants a unique opportunity to share their concerns.
The first ever National Market Women’s conference also provided participants with an opportunity to find ways to deepen collaboration with the assemblies.
The communiqué stressed the women’s preparedness to work closely with the local assemblies “but that can only happen if we are well represented.”
“We have gained a better appreciation of the role of markets in the national economy and an understanding of decentralisation as an imperative for promoting more independent and sustainable local economies. We are committed to working with the assemblies, central government agencies and all other relevant parties to make the markets viable places of economic activity,” it said.
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Market conditions
The communiqué also lamented some of the conditions currently in some markets in the country.
It cited lack of places of convenience and poor electrical wiring as some of the major challenges a lot of the markets in the country were facing.
“Several markets have reached their capacity limits and are in danger of becoming congested. Traders in some instances have to compete with vehicles, trolleys and animals in the alleys and spaces in the markets.
The assemblies must also consider how to rehabilitate and extend existing markets in their spatial development plans in line with the standards of modern markets and with adequate spaces assigned for the demands of different product lines,” it said.
Pension scheme
The communiqué further called on the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to assist the market women to work with appropriate authorities to help design workable pension schemes for them.
It also urged the government to check foreigners who were deeply engaged in retail business as that posed unfair competition to the market women.