It said the exercise was to ensure the free flow of traffic, which has over the long period of time been impeded by the activities of traders along major roads.

In the last quarter of 2017, the Assembly conducted a similar exercise which forced traders to move from the area to available spaces at the Racecourse. However, they returned to the streets during the Christmas period with the excuse that they could only make sales there.

But the Public Relations Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly [KMA], Goodwin Okumah Nyame, said with the Christmas season over, traders will not be permitted to carry out their activities on the streets.

Mr. Nyame threatened that traders who flout the regulations will be dealt with accordingly.

When Citi News visited the central business district, most of the traders had vacated the area, with some still packing their wares.

Some tables belonging to traders  were destroyed by the KMA task-force members.

Some traders have however vowed not to move from the Central Business District until the Assembly provides them with a better alternative to ply their trade.

In Accra, the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, led a team of officers from the Assembly including metro guards and police officers to clear hawkers off pavements in the metropolis.

The exercise, which commenced in the early hours of the day saw the MCE and his team visit the Central Business District, Kwame Nkrumah interchange, Tip-toe lane, Kokomlemle among other areas where they destroyed illegal structures and ejected hawkers.

In the New Juaben Municipality of the Eastern Region, the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Comfort Asante, has cautioned traders to desist from plying their trade on the pavements and along the streets following the expiry of the yuletide grace period she gave them in December.

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By: Lauretta Timah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post KMA carries out decongestion exercise despite resistance appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Assembly in a statement said the activities of these hawkers and traders contribute to littering along roads in the city.

Some of the focus areas for the decongestion exercise include Kaneshie Market Area, Odorkor-Kwashieman road, Nima Highway, Agbobloshie, Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and its environs.

The AMA said their activities were running contrary to the AMA hawkers bye-law of 2011, and section 117(1) of the road traffic regulations, 2012(L.I.2180).

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post AMA gives hawkers one week to relocate for decongestion exercise appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Confusion broke out between the Municipal Assembly task-force and some petty traders at the Agartha Market, after the traders resisted officials of the Municipal Assembly who had gone there on a routine de-congestion exercise

Mr. Nkrumah, who is the leader of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly task-force, accused some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and some members of the assembly of inciting the traders against the task-force when he spoke to Citi News.

“The problem we are facing is that, when we informed the traders to move from the pavements, our own people within the assembly went to tell them to return and trade there. Some assembly members who say they are NPP faithful are part of those individuals causing these problems. I know them and we are aware of what they are doing to prevent us from cleaning the mess on our streets and in the region’s capital city,” he claimed.

“This [Thursday] morning, I just asked a woman to move back from the pavement where she had arranged her goods but unfortunately, she pounced on me and attacked me and bit my arm, other members of the task-force came to my rescue. I later reported the case to the Police and was issued with a medical form to the hospital where I was later treated and injected with tetanus.”

Mr. Nkrumah added that he will see to the immediate prosecution of the traders who attacked him.

“Those who attacked me and the other assembly members of the task-force will be prosecuted, I will make sure the law takes its course to serve as a deterrent to others who would want to prevent public officials from carrying out their mandate.”

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the area, Madame Comfort Asante, explained that the Assembly will not relent in its efforts to ensure sanity prevails in the regional capital.

“We have not locked or closed shops in the city. All we are saying is that, we won’t allow the traders to sell on pavements, it is not hygienic for the buyers and its not safe for the traders as well.”

“If you take a walk in town you will see the mess on our streets, these traders come as far as onto the streets where vehicles ply to arrange their goods and sell which is not safe for them. As an Assembly, we will not sit and wait for a disaster to occur before we take steps; and  that’s the reason we have taken measures to revive the Agartha market to relocate them,” she told Citi News.

“We are asking them to go there and sell, there is a Police station very close to the market, their safety is assured and those who have not yet gotten a shed, should come to our office and we will assign them one.”

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Traders ‘assault’ New Juaben officials during decongestion exercise appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This followed three months of non-stop notifications in the media especially on the airwaves of Tamale based radio stations.

The Task Force destroyed unauthorised structures and hauled vehicles parked at unapproved locations.

The Task Force combed Sakasaka, main taxi rank, old market, Aboabo, Picorna road and water works among other areas.

Iddrisu Musah Superior unequivocally stated, “I am leading it today because I want to send a strong message to the people out there that this exercise will continue until I am no longer Mayor.”

“We have a forty member task force which has been trained effectively for the past three weeks to handle this so I can assure you that it is not going to be a nine-day wonder.”

“For anybody who comes and trades on the street, we shall chase him out, we will prosecute him and he will answer in the law court. We have told them to go to Kapkagyili, Kukuo, Kalpohin and Sagnarigu markets.”

The Tamale Mayor, Iddrisu Musah Superior called the bluff of political interference saying, “Political parties have intervened but I have told them the right thing that if you don’t want me to work then just leave me. We have to understand why I am doing this project. I am doing this because of the health and safety of the people.”

“If there is a fatality on that road, thousands of Ghanaians will perish and I am not going to allow this under my watch. I want people to be happy and the only way to make people happy is to make them safe and secure,” he said.

He described the exercise as a collective responsibility and called for citizens’ maximum cooperation.

The Mayor of Tamale, Iddrisu Musah Superior’s major priority is to transform the Tamale Metropolis into the hub of the Sahel.

Chiefs, religious and opinion leaders in the Tamale Metropolis have declared their support for the exercise whilst majority of Tamale residents have lauded the exercise, the evicted hawkers and petty traders are unhappy.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post TMA begins decongestion exercise in Tamale appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Assembly’s Head of Communications, Issah Musah, at a news conference March, served notice of the upcoming decongestion exercise, which is geared towards ridding designated Tamale streets of vendors and hawkers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”boiy8mLRm1msH1ntxnDVjU2yL7ptQre8″]The Tamale Mayor, Iddrisu Musah Superior, and Issah Musah, have since been serving reminders on some Tamale-based radio stations.

Ahead of the much-publicized exercise, the Tamale Metropolitan Security Task Force today (Friday), combed the identified locations and implored the hawkers and vendors to relocate.

Issah Musah in a Citi News interview lamented the disorderliness of the Tamale Business City, hence the planned exercise.

“The city of Tamale is perhaps one of the cities in Ghana that has bicycle lanes clearly different from the main roads and pedestrian walkways and so this makes Tamale a very unique city.”

“If you go into the central business district as we speak, you will realize that  these bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways, and most cases the shoulders of the main roads have been virtually taken over by hawkers and other petty traders using pushed trucks.”

“It is for this reason the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly announced three months ago that it will embark on an exercise to rid these bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways, and indeed the shoulders of the main roads of these petty traders and hawkers.”

Issah Musah gave the assurance that the exercise will be sustained at all cost saying, “Let me assure all that this time around, the exercise will be conducted differently in the sense that we are going to set up pockets of police posts around the central business district.”

“Wherever we evict these petty traders and hawkers, we are going to leave behind some policemen together with members of our task-force and they will stay put there till such time that we will have order in the Tamale metropolis,” he revealed.

Chiefs, religious and opinion leaders in the Tamale Metropolis have declared their support for the planned exercise.

The Mayor of Tamale, Iddrisu Musah Superior’s major priority is to transform the Tamale Metropolis into the hub of the Sahel.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post TMA decongestion exercise begins on May 15 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The intended exercise which forms part of the new Tamale Mayor’s grand plan to turn the Tamale Metropolis into the hub of the Sahel seeks to get rid Vendors and hawkers trading along some designated streets.

At a media briefing, Head of Communications of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Issah Musah gave the assurance that the exercise will not hit a snug.

He explained the intended exercise vision saying, “In line with the vision of His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the vision of the MCE is simply to provide the needed leadership for the economic transformation of the Tamale Metropolis through increased investments which will be geared towards providing opportunities for job creation and employment.”

“On the basis of the vision of the MCE therefore, the assembly together with the chiefs who are custodians of our land have resolved as a matter of urgency to take necessary steps to instill discipline within the principal streets of Tamale by ensuring that various public infrastructure outlay within the Metropolis are used for purposes for which they were built or provided.”

According to him, the assembly in collaboration with traditional authorities and law enforcement agencies are determined to give the Tamale Metropolis a major facelift.

Issah Musah said a Task Force will be designated at some vantage points to ensure the exercise sustainability.
He posited that city authorities will attach a human face to the exercise by carrying wider publicity ahead of the exercise.

He said the would be affected vendors and traders are to be relocated to some earmarked market places and spaces meant to accommodate them.

The assembly’s Communication Director disclosed plan to use the periphery of the Tamale Jubilee Park for weekend marketing at a fee.

Unveiling the Assembly’s long term plan, he stated, “The assembly intends to complete the Datoyili bus terminal and relocation of long distance vehicles from the central bus terminal and eventual relocation of the Taxi Rank to the central bus terminal. We will use the space at the current taxi rank as parking space for shoppers.”
“The assembly will speed up completion of the Shea-nut market to accommodate some of the traders and the consideration for creation of many Central Business Districts with upcoming schemes/layouts,” he underscored.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post TMA to decongest Tamale Business City May 15 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.