Ultimatum to recalcitrant Kasoa old market traders to relocate

Winneba (C/R), Jan. 9, GNA - The Central Regional Security Council (RESEC), has issued a February 28 ultimatum to traders and corporate bodies that had defied repeated appeals to quit the Kasoa old market and relocate at the new Kasoa market complex. The Council has advised traders and companies that have conducted business at the Kasoa old market to remove all their property from the market before the deadline.

Mr Solomon Kwashie Abbam-Quaye, District Chief Executive for Awutu-Effutu-Senya told the Ghana News Agency at Winneba that the order followed a special Regional Security Council meeting held on January 5, on the Kasoa old market issue.

The meeting presided over by Mr Isaac Edumadze, Central Regional Minister and Chairman of the Security Council, was attended by chiefs and opinion leaders of Kasoa and Awutu-Ofaankor, custodians of Kasoa lands as well as representatives of the Kasoa Traders Association. According to Mr Abbam-Quaye, Baba Lamin Abu Sadat, former Member of Parliament for Awutu-Senya, led the Kasoa delegation numbering about 70. The stakeholders were told that the continued operation of the old market was not only a hindrance to the progress of the new multi-billion cedi market complex at Kasoa, but also that it did not augur well for the Accra-Cape Coast-Takoradi international highway, which was very close to the old market.

Relocating the traders to the new market would also help keep the centre of the fast developing commercial town tidy and protect the residents against preventable diseases, the Council added. Mr Abbam-Quaye said after the February end deadline any structures found at the old market would be demolished. He announced the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Assembly's plan to develop the old market into a modern supermarket, a day-care complex and metro-transport lorry park to give the town a face-lift.