Kotokuraba market traders, hawkers take over the streets

Traders and hawkers have bounced back onto the streets of the Central Business District of Cape Coast shortly after the Christmas.

This is despite numerous ejections and public education by the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) for them to vacate the streets, the Ghana News Agency has observed.

Pedestrians, hawkers and shoppers have overflowed the walkways, narrowing the lanes as pedestrians compete with drivers for space, a situation road users blamed on traders' indiscipline.

While traders displayed their commodities on the streets and walkways, others engage in brisk hawking in the Central Business District (CBD) from Tantri through Kotokoraba, Mfantsepim Junction, Kingsway and the Abura High Streets.

This is regardless of the fact that, selling on the streets posed a great threat to the lives of the commuting public and traders themselves.

The situation has aggravated the already chaotic human and vehicular traffic congestion in the metropolis.

Some commuters in an interview with the GNA complained of increased human and vehicular congestion coupled with petty stealing.

Mr Daniel Ayisi, a second-hand clothes dealer at Kotokoraba market expressed his frustrations about the situation, admitting that their lives were in danger but could not resist selling on the streets.

He said selling on the streets was more profitable than in shops and boutiques where people seldom buy.

Mr Emmanuel Forson, a driver also complained of stress as they sat for long hours waiting for traffic jams to ease, a situation he indicated had affected sales returns.

He urged city authorities to as a matter of urgency resolve the situation before any catastrophe befell any road user.

The GNA news team also observed that gutters were chocked with solid and liquid waste.

It was disgusting to see overgrown weeds and plastic waste scattered all over the new Kotokoraba market, while waste containers were buried with garbage.

Traders were seen selling foodstuffs, vegetables and other commodities close to gutters and in unhygienic places.

They blamed the rising unsanitary conditions on the inability of the Assembly to collect the waste regularly and called on the city authorities to remedy the situation.

Nonetheless, Mr Richard Yeboah, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of CCMA in an interview with the GNA admonished the hawkers to “comport themselves” in spite of the grace period given to them.

He advised all traders who had abandoned their shops in the new market and were selling on the streets to go into their shops ease the congestion on the streets.

The PRO added that the Assembly would soon begin effective and well-coordinated educational campaigns to sensitise the traders on environmental cleanliness to ensure sanity within the business district.

That notwithstanding, he assured that the Assembly would vigorously enforce its bye-laws to the latter , to ensure that indiscipline was reduced to its lowest minimum.