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There were chaotic scenes, lamentations and curses on Monday, September 13, 2021, at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) which began to evict traders from Kumasi central market to pave the way for completion of the ongoing second phase of the redevelopment of Kejetia / central market. project.
Some expelled traders said they regretted campaigning and voting overwhelmingly for President Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2020 general election.
Traders who have invaded some of the main streets of Kumasi amid lamentations, insults and name-calling against the regional minister, the authorities of the city of Kumasi as well as President Akufo-Addo have lambasted them for having forcibly evicted them from the market. without providing them with a suitable place to allow their trade.
Speaking to this reporter, some of the aggrieved traders explained that they were left stranded after Ashanti regional minister Simon Osei Mensah asked them to park from the facility at the racetrack market.
Traders however revealed that there was no such place for more than 2,000 of them to work at the hippodrome market, as area authorities claim.
There was a space fight on Monday morning in the racetrack area after the move, as many traders complained about the lack of space.
Reaction of the regional minister
Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei tasked KMA with relocating traders to pave the way for the second phase of the Kejetia redevelopment project.
According to the Honorable Osei Mensah, besides the hippodrome market, many traders who were affected during the recent demolition exercise carried out by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) have also been successfully transferred to other markets. satellites of the metropolis, notably the Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem market, known as the Abinkyi market.
Currently, Contracta, the Brazilian construction company executing the project, is halfway through the project, hence the urgent need to relocate the remaining traders so that the work in the market can be completed.
So far, 1,300 traders have been temporarily relocated to the racetrack market, awaiting around 4,000 second-hand clothing vendors and 3,500 store owners who need to relocate to satellite markets for that to happen. the project is completed on time.
He said that although President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as well as Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, cut the ground in May 2019 for the start of work on phase two of the project, it was only ‘in March 2020 that the first batch of traders agreed to exit the market.
The regional minister said there was no way for authorities to stay away and allow the project to be further delayed for fear of breaking the deal, given its repercussions.
He called on the traders concerned to conduct themselves well in the next demolition exercise for the smooth and on-time completion of the long-awaited project, which will help relieve congestion in Kumasi’s central business district.
But the aggrieved traders expressed their disappointment that the assembly did not make the demarcations before embarking on the eviction exercise.
“We obeyed the KMA directive to come here, but we were asked to leave the field for them to demarcate it for us. We had already fought for space. Why should you order us to leave,” a trader told this reporter.
“Where should we go to sell now because the racetrack area is not ready and you asked us to move from where we were selling, now we are stuck,” lamented another trader.
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