Mallam Market Traders Call for Help… As AMA, MLGRD ‘Abandon’ Them

The Mallam Market Project Association has called on the government to come out with a more comprehensive plan towards a proper reconstruction of the market, instead of the ad hoc measures being put in place by the authorities.

According to the association, even though traders in the market have expressed their willingness to relocate completely to a nearby private property until reconstruction is complete, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is adopting a ‘make-shift’ approach to solving the problem.

Speaking to the media about their concerns, Madam Oboshie Torgbor, the secretary of the association recalled that, after fire consumed the market in 2012, the then Mayor, Alfred Oko Vanderpuye responded by putting in place a reconstruction programme.

She said six long years after that unfortunate fire incident, nothing tangible has been done to alleviate the plight of the hundreds of traders who currently sell in the open and are often left at the mercy of the weather.

According to Madam Torgbor, the current Accra Mayor, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, recently gave them permit to temporarily move to an open place to enhance rapid reconstruction of the market, but some armed task force members and the police drove them away.

“This is our major problem now. For six long years we have been selling in this open place. Please tell the Government to come to our rescue as we are suffering”, she said.

When contacted for their side of the story, the Public Relations Officer of the AMA, Gilbert Nii Ankrah, refused to speak to the issues, and rather asked the media to contact the Local Government Ministry (MLGRD).

“Sorry I can’t tell you anything about that. Please go the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. They would be in a better position to give you information about the market”, he said.

Incidentally, officials at the MLGRD, when contacted, also referred the reporters to go back to the AMA.

It is recalled that the Mallam market caught fire in 2012 under very mysterious circumstances, and traders had since been selling in temporary structures like umbrellas, thus exposing them to the vagaries of the weather.

By: Pamela Allotey & Abigail Karikari