AMA clears hawkers off street (page 19)
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) on Monday reignited its protracted battle with street hawkers by clearing them off the streets and footbridges of Accra.
The exercise took the AMA Taskforce to the Central Business District, Achimota, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kaneshie.
Unlike previous encounters, the hawkers gave no resistance. The AMA had earlier given an ultimatum to the traders to quit selling on the streets or face the wrath of its taskforce.
Indeed, that wrath was at full gear at Kaneshie where the taskforce demolished unauthorised structures and carted them away in a truck.
The Kaneshie footbridge which hitherto was market on its own has been cleared.
The story was no different at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle where the usual footwear, electrical gadgets and shirts usually put on display had all disappeared.
The AMA Chief Executive, Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye, directed the Head of the taskforce, Chief Okine, to ensure that no illegal structure was left on the streets.
“Clear everything on the streets. Anyone who wants to sell should do so in shops,” the mayor said.
Traders on the street leading to the Pedestrian Shopping Mall got wind of the activities of the taskforce in the CBD and were off the streets before the taskforce got there.
However, a few recalcitrant traders who failed to heed to the AMA ultimatum had their wares taken off the streets by the AMA taskforce.
The AMA has on several occasions failed to sustain it efforts to clear the streets of hawkers. With politicians breathing down the neck of successive Accra mayors to put an end to such exercises, the city authority always finds itself in a dilemma.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Dr Vanderpuye maintained that the AMA would sustain the decongestion exercise to promote proper sanitation and safety.
According to him, the AMA planned the exercise before the Christmas holidays but put it on hold to allow the traders to cash in on the yuletide.
“That is the challenge of Accra as a city. We know that close to Christmas, people come to Accra from all over the country to do trading and other commercial activities. Everybody who wants to buy or sell something comes to the city and Accra gets choked.”
“These are lessons we are learning from and I’m sure by December next year, we would have put in some measures to overcome the situation.”
With the holiday season over, Dr Vanderpuye said it was time the city returned to its normal state, where pedestrians would have their right of way, motorists would have access to roads and traders would do their trading at the appropriate places.
He insisted that the days of traders taking over the pavements were over.
The Assembly on April 1, 2011 released new bye-laws approved by the Local Government Ministry to arrest anyone who engages in street hawking as well as those who patronise the wares of street hawkers.
Per the new laws, no one is allowed to sell any merchandise to a driver of a vehicle or passenger.
But it appears laxity on the part of the city authority has emboldened the traders to take over the streets and pavements while markets with spaces remain vacant.
While some applauded the AMA’s work and described it as an exercise that would bring sanity to the streets of Accra, some Accra residents said the exercise was another nine day wonder.
Stephen Osei, a trotro driver, told the Daily Graphic that besides the filth generated, the traders' activities were causing serious vehicular traffic and appealed to the AMA to find a permanent solution.
“This is one of those hurriedly done actions of the AMA which lead to nothing. I can bet you that two months from now the streets would be occupied by these traders again and the cycle would be repeated,” Samson Asare who was prevented from buying pirated movies at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle by green-uniformed taskforce stated.
Despite the scepticism on the part of some residents over the exercise, Dr Vanderpuye maintained that the exercise would be sustained throughout the year.
According to him, the AMA is putting a 110-member taskforce on the streets to keep the hawkers away.
“There are spaces in the market. This time, there is no issue of alternative for them. The pavements are for pedestrians and the roads for motorists, not for hawking.”
But traders could not resist reading political meaning into the whole exercise.
“Why is the AMA doing this at this time and not last year? Is it because it was an election year,” a visibly peeved Yaw Owusu, a mobile phone seller, asked.
As the AMA taskforce approached Achimota, traders who sell close to the Lorry Terminal fled to the Achimota Dump Site and pleaded with the Member of Parliament for Okaikoi North, Ms Elizabeth Sackey, to help them convince management of the terminal so they could sell there.
According to them, selling was their only source of livelihood and the AMA action would only deprived them of their daily bread.
The MP in response noted that it was not proper for the AMA to clear the streets without providing affected people with an alternatives. “In other parts of the world such as the US, Italy and France, there are street markets and it’s about time we replicated this in our city.”
“If we clear these people without providing an alternative for them, what do you think will happen in our city?” she asked and quickly added, “we will not all be safe in this city.”
Incidentally, a large portion of the Pedestrian Shopping Mall in Accra, purposely built by the AMA for street hawkers, has remained empty, even at this moment of renewed efforts by the assembly to clear the traders.
The exercise took the AMA Taskforce to the Central Business District, Achimota, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kaneshie.
Unlike previous encounters, the hawkers gave no resistance. The AMA had earlier given an ultimatum to the traders to quit selling on the streets or face the wrath of its taskforce.
Indeed, that wrath was at full gear at Kaneshie where the taskforce demolished unauthorised structures and carted them away in a truck.
The Kaneshie footbridge which hitherto was market on its own has been cleared.
The story was no different at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle where the usual footwear, electrical gadgets and shirts usually put on display had all disappeared.
The AMA Chief Executive, Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye, directed the Head of the taskforce, Chief Okine, to ensure that no illegal structure was left on the streets.
“Clear everything on the streets. Anyone who wants to sell should do so in shops,” the mayor said.
Traders on the street leading to the Pedestrian Shopping Mall got wind of the activities of the taskforce in the CBD and were off the streets before the taskforce got there.
However, a few recalcitrant traders who failed to heed to the AMA ultimatum had their wares taken off the streets by the AMA taskforce.
The AMA has on several occasions failed to sustain it efforts to clear the streets of hawkers. With politicians breathing down the neck of successive Accra mayors to put an end to such exercises, the city authority always finds itself in a dilemma.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Dr Vanderpuye maintained that the AMA would sustain the decongestion exercise to promote proper sanitation and safety.
According to him, the AMA planned the exercise before the Christmas holidays but put it on hold to allow the traders to cash in on the yuletide.
“That is the challenge of Accra as a city. We know that close to Christmas, people come to Accra from all over the country to do trading and other commercial activities. Everybody who wants to buy or sell something comes to the city and Accra gets choked.”
“These are lessons we are learning from and I’m sure by December next year, we would have put in some measures to overcome the situation.”
With the holiday season over, Dr Vanderpuye said it was time the city returned to its normal state, where pedestrians would have their right of way, motorists would have access to roads and traders would do their trading at the appropriate places.
He insisted that the days of traders taking over the pavements were over.
The Assembly on April 1, 2011 released new bye-laws approved by the Local Government Ministry to arrest anyone who engages in street hawking as well as those who patronise the wares of street hawkers.
Per the new laws, no one is allowed to sell any merchandise to a driver of a vehicle or passenger.
But it appears laxity on the part of the city authority has emboldened the traders to take over the streets and pavements while markets with spaces remain vacant.
While some applauded the AMA’s work and described it as an exercise that would bring sanity to the streets of Accra, some Accra residents said the exercise was another nine day wonder.
Stephen Osei, a trotro driver, told the Daily Graphic that besides the filth generated, the traders' activities were causing serious vehicular traffic and appealed to the AMA to find a permanent solution.
“This is one of those hurriedly done actions of the AMA which lead to nothing. I can bet you that two months from now the streets would be occupied by these traders again and the cycle would be repeated,” Samson Asare who was prevented from buying pirated movies at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle by green-uniformed taskforce stated.
Despite the scepticism on the part of some residents over the exercise, Dr Vanderpuye maintained that the exercise would be sustained throughout the year.
According to him, the AMA is putting a 110-member taskforce on the streets to keep the hawkers away.
“There are spaces in the market. This time, there is no issue of alternative for them. The pavements are for pedestrians and the roads for motorists, not for hawking.”
But traders could not resist reading political meaning into the whole exercise.
“Why is the AMA doing this at this time and not last year? Is it because it was an election year,” a visibly peeved Yaw Owusu, a mobile phone seller, asked.
As the AMA taskforce approached Achimota, traders who sell close to the Lorry Terminal fled to the Achimota Dump Site and pleaded with the Member of Parliament for Okaikoi North, Ms Elizabeth Sackey, to help them convince management of the terminal so they could sell there.
According to them, selling was their only source of livelihood and the AMA action would only deprived them of their daily bread.
The MP in response noted that it was not proper for the AMA to clear the streets without providing affected people with an alternatives. “In other parts of the world such as the US, Italy and France, there are street markets and it’s about time we replicated this in our city.”
“If we clear these people without providing an alternative for them, what do you think will happen in our city?” she asked and quickly added, “we will not all be safe in this city.”
Incidentally, a large portion of the Pedestrian Shopping Mall in Accra, purposely built by the AMA for street hawkers, has remained empty, even at this moment of renewed efforts by the assembly to clear the traders.
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