AMA intensifies decongestion exercise (Back page)

SOME traders at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra defied the directive by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to them to vacate the streets and carry out their trading activities in markets.

To deal with the recalcitrant vendors, the assembly demolished unauthorised structures as part of the decongestion exercise.

Some of the traders arrived at their trading posts yesterday morning to find their structures demolished.

The AMA hauled away a truckload of broken tables and chairs during the exercise.

The assembly had given traders on the streets, pavements and footbridges a two-week ultimatum to vacate the areas they were plying their trade.

When the Daily Graphic visited the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, the streets and pavements, especially those near the Pedestrian Shopping Mall, were empty.

Four uniformed AMA taskforce members had positioned themselves on portions of the streets to drive away the hawkers.

But the story was different near the Vodafone offices where the hawkers, including mobile phone and pirated movie dealers, coconut truck pushers and mobile phone accessory dealers, were in brisk business.

From the Odo Rice Restaurant building to the Total filling station, it was business as usual as second-hand phone dealers and ‘black market’ operators continued their work.

To outwit the taskforce members, the traders took over waiting areas at bus stops to earn their daily bread.

Others also withdrew as far as they could from the pavements in order not to incur the displeasure of the taskforce members.

The AMA began its decongestion exercise last Monday with renewed vigour and the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, said the exercise was to rid the city off filth and ensure public safety.

While some members of the public remained skeptical about the exercise, traders questioned its timing.

“This is not fair; this is the wrong time to do this. January is a difficult month and we need to work to  pay school fees,” a second-hand clothes dealer said.

But Mr Vanderpuije maintained that the exercise had been planned since the Christmas holidays but was delayed to allow traders to cash in on the Yuletide.

The assembly, on April 1, 2011, released new bye-laws approved by the Local Government Ministry to arrest anyone who engaged in street hawking and those who patronised the wares of the street hawkers.

By 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 AMA has emboldened the traders to take over the streets and pavements, while the markets remain vacant.