Let's be serious with 'decongesting' Accra

Page 29
12-09-08

GRADUALLY but steadily, hawkers in Accra's Central Business District (CBD) and other parts of the capital have returned to the streets and pavements, defiling the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) directive to stay off the pavements and streets.
The traders, most of whom have abandoned stalls allocated to them at the various markets, have returned in their numbers displaying their wares and doing brisk business.
The items being sold include vegetables, fresh and smoked fish, yam, cassava, plantain, cooked food, children and adults’ clothes, shoes of all sizes and electrical gadgets.
The traders have taken over the pavements at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Kaneshie, Tema Station, Kinbu, UTC, Fire Service and the National Investment Bank area in Accra Central. The footbridges at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kaneshie have not been spared either as traders and beggars have occupied both sides of the bridges leaving a small portion for pedestrians to use.
It is sad the way the city authorities have turned a blind eye to the indiscipline being exhibited by traders. As a matter of fact, the current situation in Accra is an eyesore that needs urgent attention.
Woe to a pedestrian who mistakenly treads on the items of a trader who has displayed his/her wares on the pavement. Pedestrians are being forced indirectly to compete with cars for the little space left on the streets since the pavements, which are meant for them to use have been taken over by traders and hawkers.
The massive decongestion exercise carried out by the AMA on February 8, 2005, the first time in many years, was hailed and welcomed by all since it enabled the free movement of people and vehicles in and around the CDB and other market areas. The AMA, indeed, spent huge sums of money to undertake the exercise which was supervised by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service, Police Service, AMA task force and City Guards.
After the exercise, the City Guards, AMA task force and some police personnel were stationed at vantage points to prevent hawkers from coming back onto the pavements and streets.
Ghanaians were sceptical about the sustenance of the exercise but the AMA gave every assurance that the exercise would be sustained.
However, just after a few months, the situation was back to square one with the gradual return of traders.
Ghanaians then began sounding the alarm bells about the activities of the traders.
The matter got out of hands in the run-up to the Odododiodoo by-election with some blaming the AMA and the government for ignoring the threat posed by the traders in order to get more votes for the ruling party’s candidate in the election.
The alarm sounded by Ghanaians was not heeded and the situation now is out of control.
The newly constructed GH¢ 1,900,000 Pedestrian Shopping Mall close to the Odaw Drain at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, which was to host thousands of petty traders, has been abandoned, giving cause for concern since it was constructed at a huge cost.
The situation is not different at the traditional markets as some traders have also abandoned the stalls allotted them, all in the name of catching customers.
“There is no justification for any petty trader or hawker to choose to sell on the streets and pavements of the CBD. AMA will be ruthlessly poised to prosecute anyone who will flout these humane arrangements,” the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Stanley Nii Adjiri-Blankson, told the Daily Graphic before one of the decongestion exercises.
The illegal trade on the streets and pavements do not only create inconvenience to pedestrians, but leaves the streets dirty since after selling the traders leave in their trail dirt for the AMA officers to clear at the assembly's own cost the next day.
The lack of action by the AMA has confirmed the suspicion that the government fears losing votes in the 2008 general election hence it has turned a blind eye on what is happening in the capital presently.
Everybody, including traders understood the motive behind the previous decongestion exercise carried out by the AMA in 2005.
On January 21, 2007, the AMA undertook yet another exercise to rid the CDB of Accra, Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kaneshie area of petty traders and unauthorised structures.
After the exercise, the assembly made it clear that it would not tolerate any petty trading and hawkers in those areas.
Today, the situation is far from what was said. In the 2007 exercise, a 75-member AMA task force, supported by 100 policemen, 100 prison officers as well as personnel from the GNFS and military destroyed wooden structures, among other things.
Apart from enjoying fresh air while one walked through the streets, vehicular movement was also smooth.
It is about time governments in this country set a precedence for all to follow, even if they lose votes from the affected victims. Illegality must not be condoned in any form. The traders must be told in plain language that the pavements and streets are not meant for doing business. The AMA is so helpless in solving the problem and this is bad for this country. It has to enforce its bye-laws on street hawking.
The hypocrisy shown before and during international conferences held in Accra must stop as it is not helping anybody. Ahead of such conferences, the streets and pavements are cleared and painted only for traders to return immediately after the conferences. If the failure of the decongestion exercise has to do with funds, the needed funds must be secured to sustain future exercises.
Accra must not be left the way it is currently. The AMA has to be firm in implementing its decisions since apart from ensuring sanity in the capital city, other metropolitan areas take a cue from what it does.