Cape Coast traders appeal to CCMA for help

Traders at the Thursday Market, near ‘London Bridge’ in Cape Coast have appealed to the Metropolitan Assembly to refurbish the facility to befit a proper market.

Madam Ama Kesewaa, the Market leader, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Cape Coast on Tuesday said “Yawda Guom” as it is popularly called, is the first port of call of customers who live around the area, including some public servants who cannot readily go to the Kotokoraba Market for shopping.

According to her, the market had been without any infrastructural development to uplift its image.

Madam Kesewaa complained that since most of the traders did not have stalls or sheds, they had to defy the weather conditions to sell in order to make a living.

She further stated that the market was almost rendered inaccessible because of the undulating landmark and the haphazard nature in which the traders displayed their goods for sale, leaving only a small route for customers and passers-by to meander through.

Madam Kesewaa said the appalling conditions at the market were now affecting their daily sales negatively, and robbing the traders of maximum patronage from customers.

She indicated that since most traders displayed their wares on the ground, coupled with the unsanitary conditions at the place, most customers who used to throng the market no longer did so.

“One of my best customers suddenly stopped coming to buy from me and when I chanced upon her one day and enquired about why she had stopped patronizing my goods, she told me emphatically that she was no more comfortable with the conditions at the market,” she said.

A storm drain just behind the market is not helping the situation either, as children and adults alike are seen openly defecating in the gutter in broad day light.

The drain, which also runs from other suburbs of the Metropolis and passes through the ‘London Bridge’ to the sea, carries with it all sorts of debris and human excreta, with its accompanying stench, especially whenever it rains.

The situation is neither helping the promotion of tourism in the city despite Cape Coast being touted as the tourism hub of the country.

Since the market is just a stone throw from the ‘London Bridge’ which had won for itself a tourist site due to its adopted name from the well-known London Bridge in England, foreign and local visitors would like to catch a glimpse of the site.

Auntie Ekua Foriwaa, another trader who said she had been trading in the market for the past 13 years, bemoaned its degenerating conditions, especially during the rainy season, saying they had coped with the situation all these years, but could no longer entertain it.

The traders have therefore pleaded with the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly to come to their aid, saying their very livelihood depended on the market, adding that they pay their income tax regularly and therefore deserve to conduct their activities in a more conducive atmosphere.