Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, has confirmed that the the contractor responsible for the phase 2 of the Kejetia Market has abandoned the site.

In an interview on Hello FM, Simon Osei Mensah explained that the contractor is no longer at the site due to financial constraints.

He made this known while revealing why he holds the assertion that President Akufo-Addo has not failed the citizenry.

According to Simon Osei Mensah, he is unhappy the project is at a standstill, but not much can currently be done due to the "hardship" in the country.

"So I will not stand anywhere and say President Akufo-Addo has failed. Because if he has failed, so have I. I am a Regional Minister. I am supposed to chase projects for the region, so now that there is hardship and the contractor for Kejetia Market Phase 2 has left the site, which I am not happy about, but due to circumstances, then I say I am the cause of the problem. Am I the one who brought the hardship?" he added.

Traders in Kumasi are growing increasingly agitated over the seemingly abandoned phase two of the Kejetia Central Market redevelopment project.

They have thus warned of an imminent demonstration to compel authorities to resume work on the project.

Emilia Kwofie, secretary of the combined Kumasi Central Market Traders Union, in an interview with Citi News, stated that they are demanding authorities to prioritize this project, adding that they will embark on the demonstration once they finish going through the process with the police.

“We have been to the mayor’s office a couple of times to inquire, because you just can’t demonstrate when you don’t have any concrete information. We were assured that if the IMF money comes, work will commence. Unfortunately, we have realized that even though the IMF money is in, no work is done. There are quite a number of us who were evacuated from the place.

So our people keep pushing that if we want to go diplomatically and the government is not listening to us, then we will have to take it to the streets. So that somebody sees us and nobody hears us. As we talk to you now, we are still talking with the police to give us a date when we can demonstrate. All we want is for work to resume so that we can start our businesses; we can’t stay in the house forever.”

They are also asking the government to provide clear timelines for the project.

Since December last year, several critical projects in Kumasi, including phase two of the Kejetia Central Market redevelopment, the Mother and Baby Unit at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), phases two and three of the Kumasi International Airport expansion, and some Sinohydro projects, have all been put on hold due to lack of funding.