Nine traders who hawk on the streets of the Ashaiman Central Business District have been arrested.
The nine are to be put before court as part of the Assembly’s plans to ensure sanity on the streets.
They were arrested for flouting the Assembly’s directive that bars traders from selling their wares at unauthorized spots except in the market.
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Hawkers within the Ashaiman Municipality are known for selling on the streets of almost every major road in the area, and several attempts to get them off have proven futile.
Most of the roads in the busy parts of Ashaiman particularly around the main lorry terminal and the market area, as well as the major traffic intersection, have become very narrow because traders have taken over, making it difficult for both cars and humans to move freely.
The Ashaiman Municipal Assembly has thus started an exercise to decongest the streets after a kia truck run through hawkers, killing one person and injuring several others.
The prosecutor for the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, Mr. Katey George, said the Assembly will pursue this matter to serve as a deterrent to other traders.
“They are using the Public Health Act and the maximum fine is Ghc3,000 and the lowest is Ghc1,200 when they are found guilty. We have appealed to their conscience several times, we have talked to them but they will not listen. The way forward is that we will not stop†he said.
According to him, the Assembly has no plans of providing the street hawkers with additional space for trading.
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“We will continue to educate them. We will not give them any permanent place. This is because the markets are there and they are supposed to be there but they do not want to go there. They rather send their children and relatives to go to the streets. Those who are coming are also not from this jurisdiction. They are coming from Kasoa, Teshie, Nungua, Adenta and the other areas.â€
Vote-conscious NPP frustrating Ashaiman decongestion – MP
Meanwhile, the NDC Member of Parliament for the Ashaiman constituency, Ernest Norgbey, has alleged that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has been frustrating efforts to decongest some areas in Ashaiman.
“What is happening is that we don’t have the political will to drive away these people from the street…. If care is not taken, what will happen in the near future, it will be disastrous. The DCE is doing everything possible to decongest the whole area but his party members are not giving him the necessary support. The feedback we get is that, we will lose votes. It means that his party is crying for votes rather than the lives of the people who are selling by the roadside,†he said.
Mr. Norgbey however challenged the decision of the local assembly to take daily market tolls from the hawkers, when their activities are not appropriate. He noted that the daily toll, demanded from the hawkers indirectly legitimized their work.
Source: citinewsroom.com
