Hawkers displaced by the recent decongestion exercise within the Central Business District of Accra are headed for another confrontation with government.
A promise made nearly two months ago to resettle them by within the first week of July seems likely to be unfulfilled.
Though the two-month deadline is yet to expire, the hawkers say they believe government has left them in the lurch because construction works has still not started with just about two weeks to the deadline.
At the May 2nd meeting held at the AMA headquarters, the Local Government Minister Charles Bintim, his counterpart from the Greater Accra Region Sheikh I C Quaye and Mayor of Accra Stanley Nii Adjiri-Blankson assured the hawkers that two new sites at Kadmous near Agbogbloshie and the space behind the GCB Towers at Circle, will be prepared for them by July 1st.
The hawkers representatives however say though they are still holding onto the promise, it is unlikely that work can be started and completed within the two weeks.
Chairman of the United Petty Trades Association, Desmond Donkor says they are yet to receive word from government.
?We are totally disturbed because we taught the promise they gave us for months starting from 1st May, will see some progress, but it is unfortunate, as at now nothing has been done on the land,? he said.
Mr Donkor told Joy News he would meet with his executives next week to decide on how to approach the issue.
He also appealed to the authorities to at least keep them updated on developments. ?? So now we are going to consult them one after the other and find out what they have for us because we respected their views and that is why we settled for the temporary place they gave us,? he said.
The AMA?s Director of Finance K. K. Bosompem, told Joy News in interview that they were still awaiting funds from the Ministry of Finance.
He said the AMA is still hopeful they will receive the money soon.
Meanwhile, the special assistant to the Accra Mayor, Ali Baba has also intimated the Authority?s readiness to fast track construction works at the two sites as soon as they acquire the funds from government.
