AMA clears streets of hawkers

For the first time in many years, activities of hawkers and street vendors were missing from the central business district (CBD) of Accra yesterday. As a result, there was free flow of both human and vehicular traffic.

This followed an exercise by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to check hawking at certain places. The exercise included the demolition of unauthorized structures on the pavements of some major streets.

The 24-hour exercise, which began at 2200GMT on Monday, was carried out by AMA staff and metro guards, led by Mr Stanley Adjiri-Blankson, metropolitan chief executive, under heavy police protection.

The exercise, which will be sustained was aimed at ensuring that sanity prevailed on major streets in the metropolis.

Earlier, Mr Adjiri-Blankson had warned the AMA staff not to use any form of force during the exercise, no matter the circumstance.

He said the Judicial Service had expressed its willingness to assist the AMA to speedily prosecute traders who misbehaved during the exercise.

The metropolitan chief executive announced that the AMA had the support of the Ga Traditional Council and hawkers' associations to rid the city of filth and stench.

Mr Noel Arcton-Tettey, public relations officer of the assembly, said plans had been put in place to sustain the exercise, explainng that after the initial two-week exercise, a number of security officers would stay on the streets to keep recalcitrant hawkers at bay.

Mr Arcton-Tettey called on the traders to relocate to the various markets that the AMA had provided in the metropolis.