Ghana (Accra): Traders given days to leave walkways

Petty traders, hawkers and other encroachers on road infrastructure within Accra have been asked to move away from those areas within four days or be prepared to face the law. 

1. The directive, which was given by the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Michael Kpakpo Allotey, precedes a major decongestion exercise scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, targeted at clearing petty traders off pedestrian walkways and shoulders of the road.

At a press briefing in Accra yesterday, Mr Allotey said the decongestion exercise would be carried out by the AMA in collaboration with the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly (KOKMA) and the Accra Regional Police Command as part of the overall reset agenda of the government which sought ensure that systems worked as expected.

He explained that as part of the decongestion exercise, all persons who were occupying footbridges for trading purposes would be cleared to make those facilities accessible to pedestrians.

Again, he said all unauthorized structures, such as kiosks and containers, that had been mounted on the shoulders of  roads would be pulled down.

“As the mayor of Accra, I have made a solemn promise to make Accra clean.

I want members of the public to know that the streets are not for selling; it is for cars to move freely; so no one should be trading on the street.

“And for those who are illegally selling on the Kaneshie and other footbridges, I make it clear to you that from Tuesday (May 20), we are coming after you.

We will not allow you to continue to turn that pedestrian bridge into a market,” he stressed.

Context

Street hawking is a worrying phenomenon in the capital city — Accra, where petty traders take over the median and shoulders of the road to court buyers.

The taking over of pedestrian walkways by these petty traders leave pedestrians with no option but to compete with moving vehicles for space on the road.

As street hawkers meander their way through moving vehicles to display their wares, particularly in prime parts of the city such as the Central Business District (CBD), the Graphic Road, Kaneshie, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Okaishie, and Agbogbloshie, heavy gridlock is created, leaving members of the public to endure frustrating moments.

Sanitation

At the press briefing, Mr Allotey stressed that such a situation was not healthy for national development and needed to be tackled head-on.

He said it was in that regard that a joint task force would be deployed on May 20 to rid the streets of all illegal business operations.

Mr Allotey added that the decongestion exercise would be followed with the roll-out of a sanitation programme where refuse bins would be strategically positioned at vantage points in the city to prevent littering.

“There will be different refuse bins for paper, bottles and other forms of waste.

We will not just clear the people and leave the area like that,” he said.

No retreat

For his part, the KOKMA MCE, Alfred Gaisie, said the collaboration between the two assemblies and the Ghana Police Service would be sustained to help free up vehicular movement and improve sanitation in the city.

“We are going to take the bull by the horn in this matter. We will not tolerate any misbehaviour because the streets of Accra are not meant for hawking,” he stressed.

While appealing to the hawkers and petty traders to voluntarily vacate the shoulders of the roads within the period of the ultimatum, he stressed that anyone who failed to comply with the directive “would be moved by force.”