Security men chase away traders

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly-AMA has launched a swoop on petty traders and hawker who have returned to the streets.

Armed policemen and Metro Guards were seen in the central business district chasing away the traders from the pavements and the streets.

Some of the traders were seen carrying their wares and running helter skelter.

The return of the displaced petty traders on the streets barely seven months after the AMA evicted them from the place has generated a lot of controversies.

While some people have associated it with the forthcoming by-election in the Odododiodio Constituency on August 30, some of the petty traders accused the AMA of being insensitive to their plight since it has not done anything concrete to relocate them.

Vice Chairman of the Positive Traders Association, Paul Adu Boahen was reported to have said that it seemed the AMA would spend over a year to complete the proposed hawkers market.

He said their members are likely to stay out of business for a longer time, hence their decision to return to the streets to enable them make ends meet.

The AMA has denied allegations that it had allowed the hawkers back on the streets of the city for political reasons.

Public Relations officer of the AMA, Noel Arcton Tettey categorically denied that the traders were allowed back because the ruling NPP did not want to lose the Odododiodio by-election.

He said the duties of the AMA were administrative and not political and that the assembly had nothing to do with the by-election.

He described the trader action as “ acts of indiscipline” and said the fact that there were no Metro Guards or policemen on duty in the central business area to check the hawkers did not permit them to return to the streets.