ANOTHER MAJOR DECONGESTION EXERCISE BEGINS… But traders still remain recalcitrant

Most business districts of Accra yesterday witnessed another unprecedented easy flow of human traffic on pavements, which hitherto were occupied by petty traders and hawkers.

This was due to an ultimatum by Mr. Alfred O. Vanderpuije, the new Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and Mayor of Accra, that from June 15, this year, the Assembly would embark upon a decongestion exercise to relocate hawkers in the city to the Odawna and other satellite markets.

Pedestrians, who plied most streets of Accra yesterday, were saved the hustle of struggling to make their way on the “footpaths” hawkers and petty traders had created for them on the pavements, and most footbridges in Accra.

Having already received a baptism of fire from sections of the media that sought to question his integrity after spewing his alleged shady dealings while a school Principal in the United States of America, Mr. Vanderpuije has the responsibility to prove skeptics wrong in this exercise, which has been embroiled in the body politics of the country, and has since been the waterloos of previous Chief Executives of the AMA.

Characteristic of such exercises in the city, some recalcitrant traders and hawkers were spotted still selling their goods on the pavements a few hours after the task force from the Assembly had driven them away.

At places like Lapaz and the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, the traders had devised a new tactic of carrying their goods in smaller quantities, which is easier ran away with, when the task force is spotted approaching.

Some of the traders who were seen selling on the pavements at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle after the decongestion exercise yesterday morning, told The Chronicle that word reaching them indicated that their colleagues in other parts of the city were still making good business on the pavements, and so did not understand why they should leave.

Others, who sounded more political, expressed their disappointment with the current government for taking such a tough decision at a time when the economic situation of the country was spiralling downwards.

“This is where I sell to get something to cater for my family. Now we have been asked to leave the pavements to the markets. Let the city authorities go and show us where in that market they want all of us to go and sell. You see, when these politicians want power, they give you all the promises for your votes, and forget about the plight of the ordinary man after they have been voted into power,” an aggrieved trader told the paper.

The move by the Assembly to decongest the city has been lauded by most people who are of the opinion that the exercise would go a long way to contain the surging filth in the city, and unnecessary delays at market places, brought about by the hawkers and traders on the streets.