‘We see a lack of leadership from authorities at LaDMA’ – Airport City Association on hawking

The President of Airport City Association (ACA), Salah Kweku Kalmoni, says he sees a lack of leadership from the authorities at the La-Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA) in addressing the growing menace of roadside hawking around the surroundings of the Airport City in Accra.

According to him, negotiations with LaDMA over the past three years on the issue have proven futile and wants the assembly to support the Airport Citys's business district in dealing with hawking.

“We tried for three years to have some negotiations with LaDMA but we failed and we believe that they are not supporting Airport City and we see a lack of leadership from LaDMA since our inception. We now have our own security, fixed the gutters, fixed the street lights and even cleaned the communal septic reservoir by ourselves yet they are still not supporting us.”

“We are not happy and we want the new Chief Executive of LaDMA to come and meet ACA because it is the legal representation here in Airport City and we need the support of the President to help make Accra the cleanest city centre of Africa.”

Mr Salah Khalmoni said this in an interview with GhanaWeb on Wednesday, February 12.

Kweku Senanu Adzraku, Executive Secretary of Airport City Association on his part said the hawking situation initially was worse but is rather better now as compared to the past.

“Currently the hawkers around the Airport city are outside our boundaries so we’re a bit restricted so what we can do is to inform the authorities like LaDMA and the police.”

“Usually, in the early mornings and late afternoons, we can restrict them so we have rules and regulations and we’re trying to manage the situation. We cannot ask them to totally leave the area because we know that once the buildings are up and some construction works is ongoing, there’s no way for them to be here in the first place,” he explained.