“Abinkyi Isn’t The Ideal Place To Re-Locate Us!” Group of Central Market Traders Cry Out
A group of petty traders operating at the Central Market in Kumasi are still grieving over their re-location which they are insisting will not be useful as an option if they are sent to the Afia Kobi Market fondly referred to as Abinkyi.
The group forms part of the large army of aggrieved traders mostly from the Central market who have been left out in the allocation of stalls at Kejetia “opposed to their re-settlement at the Abinkyi Market.
They claim there are still numerous un-occupied shops at Kejetia and other strategic satellite trading posts which should be given to them as an alternative but not Abinkyi.
The city authorities keep referring to the Abinkyi market as the right place to resettle the traders being evacuated from the Central Market to make way for its reconstruction but there have been opposition from several quarters.
Thus, evacuating the thousands of traders at the Central Market still poses a big headache for the KMA Mayor and his lieutenants despite the assurances that it can accommodate most of the thousands of traders who would be affected by the second phase of the Kejetia Re-development Project.
The aggrieved traders claim they are aware that the authorities are fervently putting up additional makeshift structures at Kejetia in addition to the unoccupied ones.
Ideally, the aggrieved traders who marched to the offices of Wontumi communications to lodge their complaint want the authorities to re-settle them at the Kejetia market.
They argued that the whole re-location programme is “fraught with series of irregularities with some unscrupulous persons taking advantage of the lack of transparency in the award of stores to exploit them.”
One of the aggrieved traders, Kwame Danso said he was given allocation letter as far back as 2019 but was never given keys to occupy what was allocated to him.
“Before I was aware they had allocated my shop to a different person even though, I paid GC1, 600 as part payment of the GC7,800 full cost of shop number F2261.” He narrated.
He strongly suspects that within the walls of the KMA are some persons who are clandestinely allocating the Kejetia shops at a cut throat price to persons who are not in any way affected by the demolition of the old market and the Central Market.
“What is fuelling my suspicion is that the person who is occupying store number F2261 used the back door to occupy it.” He told wontumionline.com
Mr. Danso who acted as the spokespersons of the group said there is no way they would accept the offer to go to the Abinkyi market because of its teething problems.
He maintained that apart from the prevalent challenges associated with the Abinkyi market it cannot accommodate all of them looking at its size in commensurate with their huge numbers.
The traders are unanimous in their opposition to the movement to the Abinkyi market citing reasons such as proximity challenges and security concerns.
The place is not as accessible as it may seem. Besides, some of the stalls are being occupied by criminal gangs who pose a threat to both traders and customers alike.
“I can’t risk my life,” one of the group members, Cynthia, retorted.