Angry abolo sellers, hawkers bare teeth at government over lockdown intentions

Correspondence from Eastern Region

Abolo sellers and other hawkers at Atimpoku in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region have expressed anger at government over the potential of a second lockdown - with concerns it would have a ‘devastating’ impact on their businesses and the economy.

The government is reportedly considering a second lockdown amid a rise of COVID-19 cases in all 16 regions of the country.

The rise in cases has sparked fears over a second lockdown being introduced in all or various parts of the country, with many businesses on the road to recovery from the measures introduced earlier in the year.

Addressing the nation on Sunday, January 17, 2021, the President said: “We do not want to go back to the days of partial lockdowns, which had a negative impact on our economy and on our way of life.

“But should that become necessary, that is, should the number of active cases continue to increase at the current rate, I will have no option but to re-impose these restrictions because it is better to be safe than to be sorry,” he said in a live broadcast.

Similarly, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who is the Information Minister-designate under President Akufo-Addo’s second term has revealed that the country is likely to go for another lockdown soon as the President and some other bodies are seriously considering locking down the country due to the increase in coronavirus cases.

But the traders believe a lockdown would be inimical to their survival.

Cynthia Opoku sells adode (fried lobsters) at the Atimpoku lorry station in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region.

She has unpleasant memories of the first lockdown imposed by the government which began on the 30th of March, 2020 and lasted three weeks.

She said, “I don’t understand why government want to impose another lockdown because they introduced a first lockdown which adversely affected our businesses,” said the 32-year-old mother of two.

“We were locked up in our homes and our children were hungry and denied access to school.”

Cynthia criticized government for failing to provide relief packages in the form of food and money to alleviate their plight and praised the benevolence of the Member of Parliament for the area, Thomas Ampem Nyarko towards them as a timely intervention.

She wondered why government did not raise any alarms over the threats posed by the disease before or during the elections but only purporting to be doing so immediately after the polls.

Another hawker who gave her name as Sena also said “we don’t want another lockdown because it’ll affect our businesses because we take care of our children ourselves. If we don’t come here, we can’t look after our children.”

Asked what impact last year’s partial lockdown had on their businesses, the abolo seller said, “We lost heavily [in our businesses], things didn’t go well for us at all.”

Though President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in March, 2020, launched a One billion Ghana Cedi stimulus package to provide relief to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), hard-hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic, most of the traders including Sena denied benefitting from the package.

“If government did anything for Ghanaians, I did not get anything, I endured the whole lockdown period on my own without any assistance,” lamented Sena.

Another abolo seller known as Seyram also said she incurred a lot of debt during the last lockdown. She said, “I incurred a lot of debt during the last lockdown, it wasn’t easy and even now that the lockdown period is over, I’m still paying so if there’s a second lockdown, meaning I’m dying so we beg government to do something about it.”

Before any considerations of a lockdown, she believes government must support them with some stimulus package.

“We need money, it is money we want, money and food. It government gives us money and food, we won’t have any problems with any lockdown,” said Seyram.

Padi Beauty, an abolo seller also shared her opinion. Just like her friends, she recalled the economic hardships imposed by the lockdown, adding that they credited a lot of goods which they are yet to finish settling.

Though this correspondent observed that almost all the women wore the nose masks in line with the Coronavirus protocols, same cannot be said about the social distancing as they all clamoured around vehicles to catch the attention of potential customers.

Over 800 hawkers reportedly ply their trades at the Atimpoku station and Akwamufie ends of the Adomi Bridge, the majority of them being abolo and ‘one-mouth-thousand’ sellers.

Others sell fried yam, bread, sachet water and minerals.

There have been mixed reactions on the possibility of a lockdown, but to avert this, President Akufo-Addo called on all and sundry to respect and adhere to the Covid-19 safety protocols that have been somewhat abandoned by many in the past few weeks.