Sekondi NDC parliamentary candidate stopped from fixing ramshackle market roof

The parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Sekondi, Blay Armah, has been stopped from fixing the roofing of the Sekondi Market building.

This, a report by 3news.com said, was on the instruction of authorities of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), although the current state of the roofing of the building is in a dilapidated state.

Lawyer Blay Armah, the NDC PC for Sekondi, is reported to have said that he had contacted the Coordinating Director of the STMA, informing him of his intention.

He added that he was, however, prevented from going ahead with the plan.

“I have seen how the traders are suffering and the rainy season has worsened the situation. Most of the traders can’t sell whenever it rains so I went to see the situation and decided to fix the roofing for them. The administrator in the market initially told me to forget about my plans because I will not be allowed. I followed it up with the Coordinating Director who told me my plans cannot come to pass,” he is reported to have said.

It is common knowledge that the rains are in, and with that, comes a lot of challenges for many people and many places, including markets like the Sekondi Market.

The report also indicated that the rains have caused havoc, as has been the case of the Sekondi Market building, which, from afar, shows that its roofs have been ripped off significantly.

The situation has also remained the same for many years.

Providing reasons for the rejection by the Assembly, Blay Armah said that the Coordinating Director of the STMA had told him that this was because there was already a plan in the offing by the Assembly to get the building renovated.

“He said they have sent estimates of the market to the Finance Ministry and that they have plans of redeveloping the market to a modern status so even if they allow me to fix it, my investment will go to waste. But it is my money and even if I fix it today and it is taken off tomorrow, I won’t be bothered. The traders are suffering and the plan they are talking about did not start today. They have been promising to fix it over the years but nothing has happened there and the traders are suffering. A temporal solution is needed for now,” he added.

Providing further details, John Last, the Public Relations Officer of the STMA, said that there are already plans to pull down the building for repair work.

"Any investment that goes into it now will be wasted," he added.

“We have a programme dubbed the Sekondi Takoradi Integrated Market Development and we have already submitted the concept note and all proposals to the Finance Ministry through the Ministry of Local Government [Decentralisation and Rural Development]. So, we already have a program for the market, it has been planned for demolition. The Coordinating Director told them the assembly will not encourage any investment that will later go to waste,” he indicated.

Meanwhile, Blay Armah believes that may not entirely be the case, but it could just be linked to political reasons.



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