Street vendors express displeasure at distribution of stalls

Accra, Oct. 31, GNA - Ghana Street Vendors Association on Tuesday alleged that Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson, Chief Executive of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), was not transparent about the distribution of stalls at the new Pedestrians Shopping Mall at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

They also accused him of not recognizing the Association and said the allocation and registration fees of 2.2 million for stalls and 1.1 million for the open space were too high. At a press conference in Accra they claimed that the stalls had been allocated to some wealthy people who already had shops in the city centre.

Mr Tony Eshun, Secretary of the Association said, "The Mayor has refused to open his doors to us despite many attempts to meet him."

He said information reaching them indicated that AMA was using copies of the Association's registration forms to register their favourites and there was the possibility of their members not getting stalls or the open space to display their wares. "We want to know what happened to the registration forms we sent to the AMA and why AMA is demanding monies from us when government had promised not to take any fee from us. Things must be made transparent for all to see.=94 Mr Eshun said the Association did not want a repeat of what happened during the construction of the Accra Shopping Mall and Agbogbloshie market saying, when these were completed, majority of the traders did not have access to them because the fees were too exorbitant.

"We wonder why the AMA is refusing to deal with the executives on the new market. We will refuse to go off the street if AMA decides to treat us with contempt," he said, and asked AMA to publish the list of registered members.

Meanwhile, the AMA says it has no problem with any Association and expressed surprise at the stance taken by the Ghana Street Vendors Association.

In an interview with the GNA, Mr John Appiah, Acting Public Relations Officer, said the allocation fee would be paid in instalments over a period of time and defaulters would be evicted. He said whatever was being done, was in the best interest of the traders and called on them to sort things out with the AMA instead of basing their criticisms on rumours.