Welcome To the Street Market

abenaafriyiekwarkye@yahoo.com Nana Abena Afriyie Kwarkye.

I’m sure anyone who passes through this place for the first time will be quick to conclude that the place in question has always been a market. If anyone makes this conclusion, that person is not far from right. Sometimes, I also get lost and forget that this place was once a street. The more I try to get a clear understanding of why the once busy street has now been turned into a market, the more the desire to write this piece.

All over the world, every citizen looks out for the government of the day to develop more infrastructural projects, Ghana is no exception. Luckily for the residence of Madina and its environs, help has finally come and so the once traffic prone area now has the road under construction in the bid to ease traffic congestion.

Kindly allow me to show you around Madina. We are now at Zongo Junction, its quiet a busy area because so many economic activities go on here. To our right from Aburi are a lot of financial institutions, a media house to mention but a few. On the other side is the business center , Madina market. Let us take a tour through this area, please be my guest. Let me be quick to remind you that , this is an extra busy market especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Now to the business of the day, before the construction of the road begun there was a bus station located on the left side of the road. Thankfully they have relocated to a different place which has also helped in easing vehicular movement. The pavement that has just been built due to the road construction has been turned into a market.

The other end of the street which is directly opposite Oman fm a local radio station, had to be blocked and a road diversion was created as a result. Just over night, that end of the road has totally been turned into a market. My headache is not only about the street turning into a market but also a health alert. Oblivious of the health implication involved here, the market women display most of the food stuff on a sack on the ground. A few of them put their stuff in a busket very close to an opened drain.

Let us not forget about some people’s very bad habit of spitting all over. For instance someone with any kind of communicable disease such as Tuberculosis spits around, it dries up and the air blows it away unto these food stuffs. Granted that the food stuff is cooked before eaten and so the germs may be killed in the process of cooking, but how about the fruits and the vegetables that are eaten raw ? If I may ask, how many of you out there take the pain to wash an orange, pawpaw, banana or pineapple before peeling it?

We should be concerned about where we buy especially the environment. We might buy these things at a very cheaper price but have you considered the cost and pain there after involved in treating yourself of any sickness that may befall you afterwards? I call it buy one get one free. Buy food stuff get an illness free.

Think your health first and live long.