KMA Begins Decongestion Exercise Despite Plea From Traders

The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly on Monday January 8, 2018 began an exercise to rid hawkers and traders off pavements and footbridges in the metropolis as part of efforts to decongest the city.

The Assembly says the activities of the traders and hawkers impede the flow of vehicular and human traffic and contribute to the heaps of garbage along major streets of the metropolis.

Monday’s exercise, being spearheaded by the Metropolitan Security Committee – a team comprising of the police, military and the AMA taskforce aimed at moving traders from unauthorized places to Racecourse and Afia Kobi market.

The Public Relations Officer for KMA Godwin Okuma Nyame in an interview with Otec news reporter Jacob Agyenim Boateng said they targeted recalcitrant traders who have failed to move from selling on pavements after several warnings by the Assembly.

“We are encouraging all the hawkers and the petty traders to move back inside the markets. We want to fashion out a strategy to be able to sustain it,” Mr.Okuma Nyame had said

A visit by Otec news at the some catchment areas like Adum, Central market, Pampaso, Roman hill all in the central business district indicated that most of the traders had vacated the area.

Okuma Nyame emphasized that KMA will not entertain traders who flout by-laws of the Assembly, adding that those who go contrary to the by-laws would be brought to book.