We want our shops back – Abinkyi Market traders tell KMA

Some traders at the Afia Kobi Market popularly called Abinkyi Market in Kumasi on Thursday, February 25, 2021, have protested against the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) over their demolished shops.

The traders who accused the KMA of demolishing and locking up their sheds and shops want the assembly to bring back their shops.

According to the aggrieved traders, the Assembly led by the Kumasi Mayor wants to do a relocation of the shops.

The traders said the assembly did not give them prior notice and they only found out about the exercise when they arrived at the market.

A team of military personnel was however deployed to the market to calm the aggrieved traders.

The traders have therefore called on the Kumasi Mayor to come to their aid and give them back their shops.

Reacting to the incident in an interview with Class FM’s Ashanti Regional Correspondent, Elisha Adarkwah, Kumasi Mayor, Osei Assibey Antwi, said the affected traders abandoned their shops and left the market.

He said the assembly needed a place to relocate traders at the Kumasi Central market to pave way for the commencement of the second phase of the Kumasi Kejetia-Central redevelopment project.

The Assembly, he said, therefore took the action to take over the shops and reallocate them to the central market traders.

Meanwhile, second-hand clothing sellers at the Kumasi Central Market who are to be relocated to the Afia Kobi Market have indicated that due to the dispute with regards to the shops, they will not relocate to the market.

Vice-Chairman for the Second-hand Clothing Sellers Association, Mr Yaw Adu noted that they will only move to the market if the KMA resolves the dispute in relation to the shops.