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Railway Development Minister Joe Ghartey warned hawkers who use their wares on part of the Accra-Achimota rehabilitated line to give up the act or face the rigors of the law.
The minister issued this warning during a meeting with market leaders Kantamanto and Makola Number 2 at Accra Central Station on Friday, May 24, 2019.
Street vendors are gradually returning to the railroad behind the Accra Brewery Company Limited brewery.
It is just five months after the reopening of the Accra-Tema line, after the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) carried out major rehabilitation work on the line.
Addressing market leaders, Joe Ghartey said that no street vendor will be allowed to trade on railroads, which is never done anywhere in the world.
He promised that anyone found trading on the railway lines would be arrested and sentenced to face the law.
The sector minister said the change had happened and Ghana's rail sector was getting better.
The Honorable Joe Ghartey said his team would not allow any illegal act that would destroy what the Government of Ghana is supposed to accomplish, namely the construction of a modern rail network.
In May 2018, the Ghana Railway Company Limited authorized hundreds of peddlers at Accra Central Station to pave the way for rehabilitation works on the 40-kilometer Accra-Nsawam railway line. The eight gates linking the station to Kantamanto Market and Makola Number 2 Market have been closed.
This was to ensure the safety of people and move the work forward. In December 2018, when the Accra-Tema line was completed, the Kantamanto Market Authority appealed to the Minister of Railways Development, Hon. Joe Ghartey will open one of the doors to people wishing to buy in the market.
The sector minister granted their demand on the insurance of the leaders of both markets that there would be no commercial activity on the rehabilitated line, but that traders could not keep their promises.
Some traders are again doing business on the railroad. But traders did not take long to blame the railroad workers. They alleged that railwaymen gave land to the railway and allowed some traders to sneak onto the lines.
The aggrieved traders who were willing to give their name and shame to shame told the minister that they had repeatedly tried to get the peddlers out of the railroads, but this had prompted resistance.
According to them, the peddlers claimed to be relatives of the railwaymen and give them money to sell on the railway lines.
In his response, Railway Development Minister Joe Ghartey warned railway employees to stop raising money from hawkers.
The hard-working minister said that such indiscipline would not be tolerated and that any railwayman found guilty would be treated in accordance with the law.
In the meantime, the minister ordered the immediate closure of the door for two weeks.
He called on leaders of both markets to immediately form a joint working group to eliminate all hawkers from Accra Central Station.
The joint working group will also include representatives from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the Ghana Railway Company Limited and the Railway Police Station.
The different groups will be responsible for the activities of the joint working group.
He called on stakeholders to dialogue on how best to make the Joint Task Force operational and effective.
He urged them to inform traders of this new move so that none of their members would be caught red-handed.
The minister badured traders that the joint working group would be inaugurated after the two week ultimatum.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ashiedu Keteke, Sub Metro Chairman, Mr. Seth Raymond Tetteh, said the Assembly was ready to be part of the joint working group charged with ensuring that traders comply with the Directive.
DSP Emmanuel Ofori Asante, district commander of the railway police station in Accra, urged squatters, hawkers and all those involved in illegal activities along the tracks and in the various railway stations to to withdraw from the act because the law will treat them after their arrest.
The Accra-Tema railway line is operational while the Achimota-Nsawam line is almost complete.
At the same time, 97 suspected criminals were arrested around Odaw station, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra. Among them were prostituted women, pickpockets and drug dealers who gathered at the station to plan their harmful activities.
Of the 97 suspects, 14 were arrested on Wednesday, May 22, 2019, while 2 others were arrested Friday, May 24, 2019.
Several of the suspects were charged and released on bail. Emmanuel Ofori Asante, DSP, District Commander of the Railway Police Station, said Friday in Accra that Railway Development Minister Joe Ghartey had gone to the central station to discuss with leaders of both markets.
According to him, some of the suspects planned their criminal activities from the line and were executed from 3am to 5am.
He added that the staff of the Railway Police Command would continue to attack the criminals.
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