Task Force confiscates street side breakfast on sanitation day

About 20 breakfast vendors at Abura in had their food confiscated by a task force from the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) during Saturday's National Sanitation Day (NSD) clean up exercise.

The task force, made up of the CCMA city guards and other officers, began the operation at about 07:00hrs during which it confiscated foods such as “kooko”, “koose”, doughnuts and bread on sale.

Though the affected vendors did not struggle with the taskforce, they rained insults and hooted at them as they loaded the items into their vehicles and drove away.

Some of the traders who managed to escape with their food, had other belongings such as gas cylinders and utensils taken away and those who were not affected hid and sold their foods on the blind side of the taskforce.

One of the affected vendors who spoke to GNA on condition of anonymity said though the assembly announced an embargo on opening of shops until the NSD ended at 1100hrs, they did not know that food vendors were also included.

She said they displayed the food with the intention that those cleaning up would get hungry during the exercise and would need to buy some food to replenish their strength.

The operation brought the cleanup exercise in the area to a standstill as they gathered in groups discussing the incident until some aspiring assembly members convinced members of the community to go back to the work.

When the Public Relations Officer of CCMA, Mr Nicholas Addo, said the operation was organized to decongest the street, pavement and pedestrian walkways at the suburb, which had been taken over by vendors.

He said it was also to whip up participation in the NSD and that the assembly had on several occasions cautioned the vendors but they would not budge.

Mr. Addo said the confiscated items would be released to their owners after the exercise at no cost since the operation was to give them a taste of what the assembly could do.

“People must learn to obey the laws or the purpose of the campaign will be defeated,” he said.

Mr. Addo said the operation and other interventions such as embargo on commercial vehicular movement in the Central Business District until the end of the exercise, improved participation in the exercise.