Traders demand quick completion of Krofrom market

Residents at Krofrom in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) are living in fear as they complain of continuous invasion of thieves and criminals at the abandoned Krofrom market.

Abandoned and dejected for over 14 years, the Krofrom market was supposed to serve as a peripheral facility to reduce congestion at the Central Business District.

It has now become a safe haven for criminals and a brothel for prostitutes, leaving residents in constant fear.

Traders around the abandoned Krofrom market and residents have expressed frustrations about the state of the project and its toll on the commercial activities within the enclave.

Sitting on over a six-acre land, the Krofrom market if completed will have over 2,304 single stalls, three shopping blocks, which will house banks, fire stations, retail outlets, leisure centers, warehouses, offices, clinics as well as police stations.

Speaking on Akoma FM‘s morning show GhanAkoma, Assembly member for Krofrom West Patrick Kwame Frimpong explained that “unscrupulous people have turned the abandoned project which have been covered with weeds into headquarters for their criminal activities”.

He told host Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin that “the project which have been abandoned for more than a decade is now a hideout for criminals which has heightened crimes in the area, thieves snatch unsuspecting persons’ phones and other belongings and run into the ongoing market project for cover”.

Speaking to some of the traders, they outlined the difficulties they have been through since the commencement of the project in July, 2008, blaming successive governments after former President John Agyekum Kufuor for not showing commitment in ensuring the completion of the project.

As Covid-19 cases surge with the advent of the new variant and congestion heightens in the Central Business District of Kumasi, where traders invade pavements with impunity, the Krofrom market would have decongested Kejetia and Adum markets to drastically reduce the number of traders who have piled up with gross disregard to Covid-19 protocols.