Cost-free market stalls to be constructed for Dome market women – Adwoa Safo reveals

The construction of modern market stalls with ancillary facilities for Dome market women is expected to commence next month, Deputy Majority Leader of the Parliament of Ghana and Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has revealed.

The project will come at no cost to the market women.

Each of the market women had earlier been billed GH?7,500.00 for a stall and failure to pay the said amount will result in your sacking from the market.

The market which has long been on the radar of the legislator and the Ga East Assembly was expected to have commenced in December, 2018.

However, a plea from the market women, the would-be beneficiaries, with a reason that it coincided with the Christmas festivities and therefore would affect sales, necessitated the postponement of the project to the second quarter of 2019.

Campaign Pledge

Addressing a stakeholder meeting at the Dome market on Tuesday, May 29, 2019, Adwoa Safo, said the project is in fulfilment of the campaign pledge the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made to the market women when he visited them during the 2016 electioneering campaign.

Although the project of the project is not immediately known, Hon. Adwoa Safo said through the intervention of the Chief of Staff, Frema Opare-Osei, she has been able to secure some funds for the project with counterpart funding expected to be provided by the Ga East Assembly.

This, she said, will ensure that no market woman is kicked out of the market for failing to pay for the cost of the project. “We are coming to construct market stalls for you. It will not be market stalls that will come at a high cost for you and at the end of the day, you will not be able to pay, paving the way for people from outside to takeover.
It is going to be free. You don’t have to pay a penny. This project should have commenced in December last year but because you put in a word for it to be postponed because of the Christmas festivities, we decided to honour your request until the second quarter of 2019. We will therefore plead with you to give the contractors the needed cooperation for the project to go on as planned”, she noted drawing thunderous applaud and wild jubilation from the market women.

Provision of Streetlights

Adwoa Safo who is also the Minister of State in Charge of Public Procurement further revealed that plans are far advanced to provide streetlights for the people of Dome. This project, she said, will take-off from the Dome roundabout through to St. John’s junction.

Data

The Municipal Chief Executive for Ga East, Janet Tulasi Mensah, on her part, the Assembly would want data to guide them in the allocation of the stalls and therefore pleaded with the market women to avail themselves for registration and collection of a membership card.

“I’m going to insist on this because it will help us in the allocation of the stalls”, she noted.

She cautioned the market women not to pay money to individuals or group that will come to them to collect revenue apart from the revenue collectors and guards that will be sent by the Assembly.