Yeji traders cry as lock-down affects sales

Correspondence from Bono East Region

Traders at the Yeji market in the Bono East region are lamenting over the low patronage of goods at the market.

Located along the Volta Lake, the Yeji market over the years has become a major fish hub mostly preferred by operators due to better prices and a guaranteed market but the situation looks different.

Traders at the market attribute the low trend in the purchase of goods and services to the President’s directive to lock down the two major cities, Kumasi and Accra.

According to them, even though the directive does not affect activities in the food chain, the number of buyers to the market has dwindled significantly.

The fish and other sections of the market which on a normal market day will be packed with people were completely abandoned.

The traders were there in their numbers but their usual customers from Kumasi, Accra and other places were absent.

Some of the traders who spoke to GhanaWeb lamented over the absence of buyers at the market.

They urged the president to as a matter of urgency to reconsider the lockdown decision by making modifications to enable people from Accra and Kumasi to come to the market.

“Mostly we have traders from Accra and Kumasi coming to the market in their numbers on a weekly basis but that is not the case of late. Since the announcement of lockdown, the buyers no longer come. As you can see the market is empty and we are forced to sit idle.

If the situation persists, then the hardship on us will be unbearable. We are therefore calling on the authorities to do something about the lockdown”, some of the traders lamented.

An official at the Pru East District Assembly who spoke on condition of strict anonymity revealed that the situation at the market will negatively affect the revenue target of the Assembly.

Traders from various parts of Ghana converge weekly at Yeji to trade in fish, yam and cattle. Statistically, about 20,000 metric tonnes of fish are estimated to pass through the Monday weekly market in Yeji.