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Hawkers unhappy with decongestion exercise by the AMA
Accra, Oct. 19, Ghanadot/GNA – Hawkers at the New Tema
Station, whose kiosks and structures were destroyed on
Friday morning by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA)
during the continuing exercise to decongest the city of
unauthorized structures, have expressed their anger at the
manner in which the exercise was conducted.
They claimed that the AMA did not give them enough notice
before carrying out the exercise, thus making them lose huge
sums of money.
In an interview with the GNA, Madam Victoria Mensah,
Chairman of Foodstuff Sellers Association, said the action
of AMA had come to them as a surprise because when the
Association heard rumours about the possible decongestion at
the Tema Station, they contacted the authorities at the AMA
and were assured that nothing like that would happen.
She said about two years ago, they were encouraged by the
AMA to form the Association so that they could have a common
voice in any decision of the AMA that might affect them.
She added that officials from the Ministry of Women and
Children's Affairs and the AMA were present at the
inauguration of the Association and they therefore felt that
the city authorities had accepted them.
Madam Victoria Mensah said the destruction of the market was
painful because during the celebration of the 50th
independence anniversary, they spent 35 million cedis to
rehabilitate portions of the market and also put up new
structures.
"Now that they have destroyed all these structures, this
huge amount of money used to get the market beautified has
gone to waste.”
She appealed to the AMA to either rescind its decision of
evicting them from the Tema Station or find a place to
resettle them as they had done for hawkers at Central Accra.
"We are prepared to invest more in the rehabilitation of the
market if the AMA is not happy with what we have done so
far. They should please not throw us out of business since
we also have families to take care of," she said.
Madam Evelyn Amoako, a sachet water distributor whose kiosk
was destroyed, accused the AMA of carrying away her deep
freezers.
The decongestion exercise has also affected areas such as
Circle, Makola, Kaneshie and Tudu.
AMA on Wednesday night gave some bite to its vow to
decongest the metropolis when it again embarked on a massive
exercise to rid the city of unauthorised structures.
The city authorities have also vowed to sustain the exercise
until people see reason.
GNA
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