Inside the Takoradi Market lies buckets of tears from market women who have attempted several times to reason with the defiant authorities of the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) to tread cautiously in hurriedly pushing them out to a new temporary market being developed.
Regrettably, it appears the city authorities have turn deaf ears to the concerns the market women have raised as the STMA deadline draws near for them to move out.
The market women say albeit they were not resisting being moved to a new temporary market to pave way for the reconstruction of the old Takoradi Market, the city authorities have failed in following the negotiation reached with them.
The STMA is developing a temporary market to contain market women who have been asked to move to the new place.
Though the new market is not ready, STMA is pushing the market women out to pave way for the reconstruction of the Takoradi old market.
For now, the STMA has walled off the entire old market and a number of traders have had their sheds destroyed after the Assembly razed a portion of the market to the ground.
When this reporter, on Monday, visited the old market, the women were full of tears as they reluctantly moved their wares outside.
The market women said they were not against relocating to the new temporary market, but how the authorities were on their necks in pushing them to the temporary market, which was not ready, was worrisome.
According to the market women, the STMA told them that they would only be moved out to the temporary market when it was ready.
However, the market was not ready, yet the STMA was pushing them out.
This reporter has discovered that as a strategy to forcibly get the market women out was that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had begun disconnecting power to some parts of the place, by removing their meters, resulting in the women having no option than to remove their wares and items.
For those who have stores at the old market, they either have to cart the items to their homes or get a warehouse to keep them at a cost.
This is what appears to be a daunting task and worry to the market women.
One of them told this reporter: “As I talk to you, I do not know where I am carting my items to. Whether I am carting them home or hiring a warehouse, I do not know.”
Another, who sells a perishable product, said: “Those of us who sell perishable products are hard hit, because, without electricity, how do you store your perishable foods?”
For many, their concern is that the stores the STMA has allocated for them at the new temporary market were too small to contain their items, considering the size of where they were occupying at the old market.
“I own a 100 metres square store in this old market with items, will you believe the store the STMA has allocated to me at the new temporary market is far less than 50 square metre?”
This and others are their concerns, and according to them, they had asked the city authorities to address their concerns first, before moving them out of the old market.
The post Takoradi Market traders still refuse to relocate appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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