Traders at the Suame roundabout are on war path with the Ashanti regional minister Simon Osei-Mensah for asking them to sell cocaine if they feel the hardship in the country is unbearable.

The minister made the comments speaking at the prelaunch of the Keep Kumasi Clean and Green Campaign in the regional capital Kumasi.

The minister’s several attempts to get the traders to move away from the roundabout had been resisted by the traders with their leadership rallying them to vote out the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He insisted. “What is wrong is wrong. You see the way the articulated trucks turn dangerously in that roundabout. It will be disastrous if one of them fails their breaks and runs into traders there. Immediately you will begin calling for the head of the regional minister and the Kumasi mayor. You will accuse us of negligence. The same law that bars me from stealing your plantain is the same law that bars you from selling in a roundabout. Why should we accept one law and reject the other. If you keep giving the excuse that it is because of hardship, go hovering about in the streets selling cocaine. Let’s be careful and exempt ourselves from what is wrong.”

These traders who are bent on defying all orders to vacate this perilous area contend the comments of the regional minister are unfortunate.

A visibly enraged trader told Ultimate News, “As a minister, you are the father of the region. If we have wronged you, you should find a good way to speak to us. How can you tell your children to go sell cocaine? Can he say that to his children who go wayward? We know it is not safe here but we lost all our capital when we went to the place they designated for us in the market. If he wants us to sell cocaine, he should lead us to the place to stock for sale.”

Another trader incensed by the minister’s comments fumed, “The minister did not speak well at all. If we are here because of hardships and you tell us to rather sell cocaine, it is not right. He should tell us where cocaine is sold or retract his comments. God who knows us will keep us safe from any accident. The trucks that bring in our plantain and cassava cannot get into the market. The road is not even accessible. We told them to grade the way for us and no one heeded.”

A plantain seller whose wares were displayed just close to the road told Ultimate News, “We sell cassava and plantain. We don’t know how to sell cocaine. Where they sent us smells all over because it is close to a garbage dumping area. It even generates a lot of diseases. We are women. We will not sell cocaine.”

‘The minister did not speak well at all. If we are here because of hardships and you tell us to rather sell cocaine, it is not right. He should tell us where cocaine is sold or retract his comments. God who knows us will keep us safe from any accident.

‘The trucks that bring in our plantain and cassava cannot get into the market. The road is not even accessible. We told them to grade the way for us and no one heeded’.

After countless decongestion exercises, traders have returned to the Suame Roundabout which is the biggest and most busy round about in the Ashanti regional capital Kumasi.