The Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council has directed the current management of the Kumasi City Market (Kejetia) to step aside for investigations into concerns raised by traders.
This was after some leadership of the trader unions petitioned the Regional Minister to quickly step in to ensure efficient operations and management of the market.
The traders cited extortion and poor management as key factors in making trading activity in the market uncomfortable.
“For years, we have been grappling with power cuts by the electricity company of Ghana owing to monies the facility owes them. As traders, we’ve been paying our bills to management but we are always in debt. The call for individual metres has fallen on deaf ears.
“It’s been more than a year since part of the market was gutted by fire, but as we speak, the affected part has not been reconstructed. Management appears unconcerned about our demands,” Michael Adu Gyamfi, Secretary of the Kumasi City Market Traders Union, indicated at the group’s meeting with the Regional Minister.
Days after petitioning the minister, the Regional Coordinating Council formed an interim management committee to steer affairs of the market. The managers in charge of the market has been asked to step aside until the investigations is completed.
According to the statement, “the Regional Co-ordinating Council has received a number of petitions from traders and other stakeholders concerning the management of the Market.
“The Regional Co-ordinating Council has decided that the current management of KCM should step aside to allow for the establishment of an Interim Management Committee. This decision is aimed at facilitating an investigation into the allegations to ascertain the veracity of the claims.”
The statement, signed by the Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, is a reference to a series of meetings between the management of Kumasi City Market (Kejetia), Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, and the Hon. Regional Minister where various issues regarding sanitation, utility bills, and other general services were discussed.
By Ibrahim Abubakar|AkomaFM|Kumasi
