They are Theophilus Amar Kwasi, Samuel Nunu, Albert Ayitey, Victor Thompson, Albert Cudjoe, Ebenezer Larbi, Abu Sackey, Emmanuel Nortey Oquaye, Emmanuel Anyidoho, Abubakar Awal and Fatau Yussif.

Head of Public Affairs, Gilbert Nii Ankrah, disclosed this to the media in an interview on the progress made so far on the ongoing decongestion exercise by the Assembly and strategies that had ensured its sustenance since the exercise begun on January 8.

He said the 11, who were stationed at some specific streets within the Central Business District of Accra were spotted by the Assembly’s monitoring team taking unspecified sums of money from some traders, loitering and sleeping on duty.

“They were not enforcing the law and this is not acceptable…let me put on record that the AMA will not hesitate to dismiss anyone who is sleeping on the job,” he said.

According to the Mr. Ankrah prior to the exercise members of the taskforce were warned not to engage in acts which would undermine the sustenance of the exercise.

“People all over the country and beyond are applauding us for the good work done… [The members of] our taskforce have been warned not to compromise but remain disciplined. We will not hesitate to dismiss any recalcitrant person who tries to undermine the system,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance by traders and stakeholders and assured that the Assembly would not relent on sustaining the exercise to rid the city of filth, lawlessness and increase mobility.

Mr. Ankrah also commended the police for their support and called on all to rally behind the assembly’s strategies to transform Accra into a Smart, Sustainable and Resilient City where we can all “live in and love it.”

The PRO urged traders to abide by the directive and warned that anyone caught going against the metropolitan assembly’s rules would be dealt with.

“We are calling on all pedestrians to endeavour to use the pavement since it is meant for them”, he averred.

The AMA began the exercise to rid hawkers and traders from pavements and footbridges in the metropolis as part of efforts to decongest the city.

According to Assembly the activities of the traders and hawkers impede the flow of vehicular and human traffic and contribute to the heaps of garbage along major streets of the metropolis.

The ongoing exercise being spearheaded by the Metropolitan Security Committee (MESEC),  comprising of the police, the military, and the AMA taskforce is expected to cover the Central Business District(CBD), Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, Kaneshie Market Area, N1 highway (Lapaz Intersection) among others.

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Source: AMA

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Mr. Adjei Sowah urged victims of these rogue revenue collectors to report to the AMA office for possible investigations.

“I will tell you that there are people who are allegedly issuing out fake tickets. So we will investigate and probably that will help us to find out who even issued the tickets to them, whether the person has authority to do so or not,” the MCE stated on Eyewitness News.

His comments follow claims from some traders that they were issued receipts granting them permission to sell their wares on pavements in the metropolis after paying certain amounts to the alleged officials of the Assembly.

They trooped to the premises of Citi FM on Wednesday to complain about what they also described as unfair treatment from the AMA after their wares were seized during the decongestion exercise.

The traders showed receipts from the AMA, which they said were issued, granting them permission to sell at places deemed inappropriate.

The AMA boss explained that there were different categories of revenue collectors, including AMA staff and others private collectors on contract.

“I agree that all of them may be acting for and on behalf of the AMA but sometimes, some of the private collectors that are in the system, because of the fact they want money because they get commissions, they relax and issue out tickets to people who are they are not supposed to.”

“I will not deny the fact that somebody has collected money from anybody at the roadside but anybody selling on the roadside knows very well that they are plying their trade at an illegal place… There are people who even present themselves as military men, doctors and policemen in town. There are imposters in town. So I will not deny the fact that possibly, there could somebody who goes around as an AMA official,” the MCE said.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post AMA to fish out ‘fake’ revenue collectors taking traders’ monies appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.