SOME hawkers in the central business district of Accra have expressed diverse opinions on the issue of the decongesting of the city to rid the streets of hawkers.
In separate interviews, some were of the view that such an exercise by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) task force, popularly called “Abaayei”, was necessary to ensure free human and vehicular movement in the city, while others said conditions at the Pedestrian Shopping Mall at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle must be improved to attract street hawkers to the area before any decongesting.
Some of the hawkers said the previous government had given them the liberty to sell on the streets and ,therefore, the current government should do the same.
Some of them also urged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to institute good policies to create job opportunities for the numerous unemployed youth on the streets to clear the streets of hawkers.
During a tour of some market centres in the city, the Daily Graphic observed that most of the hawkers were busily roaming the streets, while others had displayed their wares on pedestrian walkways, obstructing pedestrian movement in the process.
A hawker, Grace Ayi, asked for the expansion of facilities at the Pedestrian Shopping Mall, saying that although she was aware that most of the stalls were not being used by those who had acquired them, she believed that if facilities were improved, some of them would willingly occupy the facility.
Bismark Antwi, an electrical gadgets hawker who sells his goods on the pedestrian walkway under the pedestrian bridge at the Nkrumah Circle, also expressed the hope that the new administration would complete unfinished projects by the previous administration, particularly the Achimota Highway, and at the same time ensure an improvement in the living standard of Ghanaians.
Another hawker, Kwadwo Poku, who sells men’s underwear at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, expressed the hope that the new government would continue the good initiatives of the previous administration, particularly the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Two hawkers at the Kaneshie Market, Kofi Amoako and Kofi Ebiasa, expressed optimism that the current government would continue with programmes like the School Feeding Programme, which they said had benefited many parents immensely.
When the Daily Graphic sampled views from a cross-section of hawkers around Tudu and the Agbogbloshie Market on their expectations of President Mills’s administration, some said they expected a total change in order to move the country forward in the right direction.
Mr James Boakye, a pineapple seller at the Tudu Lorry Station, said he expected the government to establish more schools to cater for children of school age.
Another hawker, Mr Kwame Badu, who sells belts at Agbogbloshie, said he was tired of hawking and preferred his carpentry profession. He hoped that with the government’s support through loan facilities, he could revive his profession.
A hawker who gave her name only as Sister Nancy expressed regret that though the AMA had built the Pedestrian Shopping Mall for hawkers, the hawkers had abandoned their stalls because they wanted to increase sales and revenue, thereby causing traffic congestion on the streets of Accra.
In a related development, traders at the Hawkers’ Shopping have called on the government to demonstrate the needed political will and clear hawkers along the streets, reports MacLiberty Misrowoda.
They said that was necessary to ensure that hawkers, who have abandoned the Shopping Mall built for them, return to the market to decongest the streets.
The also called on the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) to consider reconstructing the fence wall around the mall to make it more visible to the people.
They stressed the that, “many people are not aware that this place is a market thus making trading here very sluggish”, the traders added that most people get what they want from their colleagues selling outside depriving them of their income after paying heavy taxes to the government.
Some traders, Richard Amoah, Kwame Asante and Kwabena Kankam questioned why big financial institutions like the Ghana Commercial Bank located near the market has it walls short and a mere hawkers’ market has such a tall wall around it.
The Daily Graphic went round the mall on Wednesday to find out why most of the sheds were empty while a lot of them were jammed outside the market making brisk business.
When asked why the sheds were empty, Richard Amoah said most of the traders have shops in Accra and other locations and as business was not good at the mall, they have dejected or rented the sheds and relocated to the other markets.
Another trader, Madam Eva Asamoah alleged that some of the shades in the market belong to some staff of the AMA, “this sheds is not for me, someone rented it to me and most of the people here are not the first occupant of the sheds”.
A trader, Madam Benedicta Nyarko also said the activities of some pick pockets posed a security risk to traders who close late in the evening.
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