Kumasi, Oct. 1, GNA - Ninety hawkers and 62 drivers have been arrested and prosecuted by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) since the start of its decongestion exercise in the latter part of August. The hawkers were apprehended by the Assembly's taskforce for defying the ban on trading on streets in the Central Business Area of the metropolis.

The drivers were arrested for picking passengers and parking their vehicles at unauthorized places.

Mr. Clement Kegeri of the Public Relations Unit of KMA told GNA in Kumasi that 31 of the offenders were cautioned and discharged when they appeared before the KMA Circuit Court presided over by Mr Justice Adjei Frimpong.

The remaining, he said, were sentenced to fines ranging between GH¢100 and GH¢300.

Mr. Kegeri said the KMA was determined to sustain the exercise to ensure free vehicular and human movement and advised traders to relocate to satellites markets in the Metropolis to avoid prosecution.