Some hawkers in Accra defy AMA's directive on decongestion

Accra, June 29, GNA - Some traders operating in the Accra Central Business District, have adopted crafty methods to sell on the pavements following the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA)'s decongestion exercise, which started on Sunday.

The methods include carrying some wares on their heads and roaming on pavements while others approached potential customers with their concealed goods to ask what they wanted to buy.

Others who were spotted decorating their entire body with their merchandise while hawking could be described as "walking boutiques". Mr Henry Kpomasi, a trader who sells textbooks in front of the Presbyterian Book Depot in Accra, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) team that visited the area on Monday that he acquired a shop at the Pedestrian Shopping Mall but returned to the pavement because of low patronage.

"I am not against the decongestion exercise per se, what I am against is the brutality used by the AMA to seize people's wares," he said, and pleaded for some concession to be made for some hawkers. "This place is not a ceremonial street and the pavement is large enough for both traders to ply their wares and pedestrians to walk, so the AMA should consider us," he said.

Mr Kpomasi pleaded with the authority to allow the book sellers at the Central Business District to operate, at least, till end of the year when the peak season for selling their books and other literature was over.

Mr Ben Asante, a leather belt seller, said he had contracted a loan to sell his wares and had no intentions to leave the streets. "How do I pay the loan back and how do I feed my family?" the enraged belt seller asked, and urged the AMA to reconsider its decision.

A middle-aged woman, found selling pens and pocket-size diaries in front of the pavement at the High Street Branch of Ghana Commercial Bank, said there was no way the decongestion exercise would succeed since many of them could not afford shops at a shopping mall. "Take a look at the pens and diaries I sell, do you think I can get any profit from the sales and use it to purchase a shop?" she asked. Meanwhile Mr. Frank Kwasi Asante, AMA's Head of Public Affairs, has described such methods adopted by the hawkers and traders to outwit the efforts of the authority as unfortunate.

"We have our task force on the ground and they would not hesitate to arrest anyone found culpable," he said.

Mr. Asante explained that the traders were operating illegally on the streets and it was unjustifiable to support them to break the law. "The only way they can operate legally is to issue them with permits, but there is no way AMA would support such illegality," he stressed.

A member of the AMA task force who gave his name only as Prince said he had also adopted smart methods to arrest hawkers who flouted the AMA's directive.

"I walk to and fro on the pavement under my supervision; if I see a hawker several times carrying his or her wares or concealing them on the same pavement, I arrest such a person," he said.

He told the GNA the method was working well for him. The AMA task force on Sunday began a decongesting the Central Business District in the metropolis with areas covered including Makola, Okaishie, Tudu and its enclave.