Police warn street hawkers

Accra, June 26, GNA - Mr Douglas Akrofi Asiedu, Assistant Commissioner of Police, in charge of the Greater Accra Region, on Monday ordered the Police to get rid of those who sold on the streets and posed danger to traffic and their own lives.

He asked street hawkers to value their lives and to stay off the streets to avoid being arrested and hit by vehicles because the Police could not guarantee their safety.

He particularly cautioned those hawkers, who sold on the streets of Kaneshie to desist from crossing and milling on the streets when they sold their wares because "when any of them is knocked down by a vehicle and the case is brought to the Police, I will personally close the docket".

Speaking at a crime education seminar organised by the Police Administration for taxi owners and drivers, members of the Kaneshie-Mamprobi-Korle-Bu Trotro Station Branch of the GPRTU, ACP Asiedu said it was even wrong to fault or arrest a driver, who accidentally ran over a street hawker selling on the street. "In the first place it is unlawful for such persons to sell on the street. But because people do not know they tend to blame drivers when they accidentally run over a hawker and rather sympathize with the hawker."

ACP Asiedu, therefore, charged officers of the Kaneshie Police Division to, within two days ensure that all those selling on the streets of Kaneshie and causing inconveniences for vehicular movement were sacked.

"For the pavement, they can choose to sell on them but not on the streets".

The well-attended seminar, formed part of a series of two-week educational programmes designed to educate taxi drivers, who operate within the seven divisional areas of the Greater Accra Region over activities of car snatchers and security on the roads. ACP Asiedu said the incidence of car snatching had become a big worry to the Police Administration.

He said while the Police made effort at curbing that crime, it kept increasing with taxis being the main target of attack and "we are very worried".

He advised drivers to be very observant and use their inside mirrors to monitor all passengers they picked, especially young men within the ages of 17 years to 28 years, normally in groups of two or more and in dark clothes.

He said drivers must also be weary of passengers, who agreed to pay any high charges without asking for reduction and offered drinks in any form to them on their journey.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Madam Fatima Fuseni, of the Accra West Division, advised drivers that they should rely on their intuition whenever a passenger stopped them for business.

Madam Fuseni told the drivers that "as soon as you notice strange gestures from your passengers you should drive to a nearby Police station or an open place where there are lots of people around". She also urged taxi owners, who employed two drivers to work with their cars during the day and night, to regularly maintain their cars and ensure that such vehicles were in proper condition.

The drivers called on the Police to intensify their night patrol operations as well as compile their contact numbers in the form of stickers and distribute them to all drivers through the union so that they could contact them on time in cases of emergency.