The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano South, Mr. Balado Manu, has threatened to sue the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, if he goes ahead to construct a modern market at the burnt Kantamanto Market as he has been preaching.
According to the former MP, any move to turn Kantamanto into modern market would mean that the idea to modernize the railways sector had been shelved.
He contended that the rail sector of the economy had been allowed to deteriorate to the level it ought not to be, and instead of developing a proper strategic plan to revamp it, Dr. Alfred Vanderpuije was rather trying to kill it with his intended plans.
Speaking on Adom FM and in a follow up interview with The Chronicle yesterday, Balado Manu noted that the land in question belonged to the Ghana Railway Company (GRC), and that any development on it should be in the interest of the company.
According to him, when former President Kufuor’s administration introduced shuttle train services between Accra and Tema, Kantamanto was and is still being used as its turning point.
He was, therefore, wondering why the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) would try to take over the land to build a modern market, instead of using it for a purpose that would benefit the beleaguered company.
The former Ahafo Ano South MP quoted the Accra Mayor as having told the media that the government of Brazil would support the modern market he intended to build at the Kantamanto Market.
He noted that if these media reports were actually true, then Dr. Vandderpuije must come out and tell Ghanaians when he started the loan negotiations with the Brazilian government and whether the said loan had been approved by Parliament.
To him, if the Accra Mayor wanted to construct a modern market for the traders at the burnt Kantamanto market, he must look for land elsewhere, and that he would not sit down idle for them to destroy the future of the GRC.
“I have sent notice to him (Vanderpuije) through the media, and I will continue to send signals to him that if he goes ahead to develop Kantamanto into a modern market, I will sue him. There is too much impunity in this country, and it must be stopped. I am prepared to bell the cat,” he said.
The former MP, who is noted for speaking his mind without fear or favour, argued that the future development of our railway system would help to transport goods and services from the hinterlands to our towns and cities, apart from making transportation cheaper for the citizenry. Balado doffed his hat to the Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor, for coming out strongly to support his position that Kantamanto must not be turned into a modern market.
Dzifa Attivor was recently quoted as saying that the government was ready to develop the Kantamato railway land into a modern rail station.
“We are now ready to develop the rail sector. The station will come with some facilities e.g. shops, restaurants and restrooms. We want to take this opportunity to appeal to the traders that they should not go back there because we are going to develop the rail lines. “It will be converted into a big shopping mall, as is done everywhere,” she said.
Addressing a news conference earlier, Dr. Vanderpuije advised traders at the Kantamanto Market to move to the other satellite markets for his outfit to construct a modern market in place of the burnt one, and that his office would ensure the best is made out of the situation.
“The best out of this situation can never be anything short of the best in modernising the market. As AMA, we have plans to develop all of our markets, and if this situation has happened, we will quickly start rebuilding [a] proper market,” he said.
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