AMA DECONGESTION EXERCISE, CHALLENGES & ACHIEVEMENTS

Story: Salome Donkor & Sebastian Syme

 THE third phase of the decongesting exercise carried out by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to rid the city of unauthorised structures is still on course.
The exercise, which is the third by the AMA in two years, involves a team of more than 400 people drawn from the Police Striking Force, the AMA Special Task Force and Metropolitan Guards and traditional authorities who descended on selected parts of the city, destroying stalls and other structures deemed to be defacing the metropolis.
According to the AMA, the exercise was carried out as a result of what it termed the persistent refusal of hawkers to move into stalls provided for them by the assembly at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and also to move to satellite markets in the metropolis.
A work plan for the exercise issued to the media by the AMA indicated that the inspection of houses with markets would begin on October 18, after which hawkers on pavements would be arrested, warning that there should be no hawking within lorry parks.
The city authorities have vowed to sustain the exercise until people see the need to do the right thing. Although the assembly has always made it clear that it will not tolerate the activities of petty traders and hawkers in the decongested area, the recalcitrant petty traders and hawkers always manage to return to the streets, despite warnings by the AMA to prosecute offenders.
The Head of Public Affairs of the AMA, Mr Ali Baba Bature, indicated that the demolition exercise in Accra would be sustained as long as hawkers remained recalcitrant.
The hawkers and traders whose kiosks and stalls were destroyed have expressed anger at the manner in which the exercise is being conducted and have demonstrated their resolve to remain in the areas where unauthorised structures have been demolished.
Contrary to expectations that the ongoing decongesting exercise by the AMA will encourage displaced hawkers in the central business district (CBD) of Accra to relocate to the Pedestrian Shopping Mall provided by the AMA at Odawna, a number of stalls at the market are still empty.
A visit to the shopping mall by the Daily Graphic on Monday to find out whether business activities had picked up at the mall, following the decongesting exercise, revealed a complete absence of traders at the mall.
Some traders interviewed as to the large number of empty stalls at the market disclosed that some of the displaced hawkers had adopted new strategies to sell their wares.
They said although those hawkers no longer erected structures on the pavements, they beckoned prospective buyers to secluded places where their wares were secretly kept and sell to them.
They claimed that most of the customers were unwilling to travel all the way from the CBD to the shopping mall at Circle to buy their wares and that explained the refusal of most of the hawkers to relocate to the mall, despite persistent directives from the AMA.
Hanna Timah and Abena Somuah, who sell dresses in the market, told the Daily Graphic that some house owners in the CBD had rented portions of their homes to hawkers who had suddenly turned them into marketplaces and noted that those who rather obeyed the AMA’s directive to relocate to the hawkers’ market were incurring losses because of the lack of customers.
They alleged that hawkers who legitimately owned stalls in the market had rented them out to others who did not have the opportunity to own stalls there, while the original owners rather operated at the CBD where they made profit.
Mr Augustine Amoako, a stationery dealer, whose views were not different from those expressed by the other traders, called on all those who had refused to relocate to the stalls provided for them at the hawkers’ market to rescind their decision.
He urged the AMA to intensify its educational campaign on the matter, since that was the only way to ensure attitudinal change among the recalcitrant traders.
In an interview, the Vice-Chairman of the Pedestrian Shopping Mall Traders Association, Mr Paul Adu-Boahen, who sounded peeved, expressed his disappointment at the way in which the AMA had handled the shopping mall.
He said the AMA issued a directive to shop owners in the CBD to ensure that their goods did not extend onto the pavements to avoid attracting hawkers into the area but that directive had not been enforced, thereby encouraging the return of hawkers into the streets of the CBD.
He disclosed that hawkers had turned the space behind the State Insurance Company (SIC), areas around Pro Credit and Okaishie, all in the CBD, into marketplaces and wondered why the AMA failed to extend the decongesting exercise there.
Mr Adu-Boahen also questioned why the AMA did not relocate the hawkers at the Tema Station to the empty stalls at the shopping mall before embarking on the demolition exercise at the station.
He indicated that what the market needed now was the sale of foodstuffs to attract buyers there and called on the AMA to remove a refuse container close to the shopping mall and which was filled with garbage to create space for business activities.
He said the leadership of the shopping mall would resist any action by the AMA to set up a toll collection point at the market, saying, “The sellers here are not making any profit and, therefore, they cannot afford to pay any fees to the AMA.”
The vice-chairman, who bemoaned the poor security arrangement at the market, alleged that the situation had brought in its wake all forms of social vices, including robbery at the market.
Although Mr Bature has warned that the Tema Station is not a market, nothing has changed after the demolition of unauthorised structures. Brisk trading activities are going on under trees, in the open spaces and under umbrellas erected by the traders. Chop bar operators and other cooked food sellers are also doing brisk business near open drains.
In other parts of the city, some recalcitrant traders have adopted various strategies to carry out their businesses at unauthorised places. Their aim is to make ends meet and damn the consequences of flouting the city’s rules and regulation and this shows that the AMA has an arduous task in effectively dealing with the problem.
The AMA Chief Executive, Mr Stanley Nii Adjiri-Blankson, has, however, not thrown up his hands in despair and is reported to stated that the AMA was "fed up with the belligerent attitude" of some people “to make life unpleasant for other people".
"We are fed up .... And we will do and use everything within our means to ensure that the city is transformed into its deserved status,” he said.
He said even if it took a year, the assembly would sustain the exercise till people saw reason. 
It is not easy to change the attitudes of some people and the AMA will actually need to work hard to sustain the exercise to justify the money expended on such exercises and also to maintain sanity in the city.