Kumasi traders to hit the streets over delayed works on Kejetia market

Secretary of the combined Kumasi Central Market Traders Union, Emilia Kwofie, has declared her group’s intention to demonstrate against government over the delayed works on phase two of the Kejetia Central Market redevelopment project.

According to her, some traders have been in the house since their evacuation for the construction of the new market.

Speaking in an interview on Citi News, Emilia Kwofie, said the union was still in talks with the police for a date of their demonstration to take place so affected traders can resume work.

She explained that the mayor of Kumasi had told them on several occasions that the market would be construction once government receives the loan facility from the International Monetary Fund.

Emilia Kwofie said despite the disbursement of the first tranche of the money from IMF, the project was still abandoned.

“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,” Secretary of the combined Kumasi Central Market Traders Union said.

She added that, “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.”

The report however stated that Mayor of Kumasi, Samuel Pyne, failed to provide an exact date for the resumption of work.

He said there are ongoing discussions with the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Local Government concerning the project.Related Articles: