AMA Suspends Decongestion

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has announced plans to halt its protracted battle with hawkers in the city.

It has suspended all decongestion exercises in the Central Business District (CBD) of Accra.

The Assembly said it would begin full operation in the metropolis early next year after the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Over the years, AMA has embarked on series of exercises to rid the streets of illegal structures, traders and hawkers, but the traders always outwit the Assembly.

Last year, the AMA clashed with hawkers who refused to vacate pavements and unauthorized places.

However, the Public Relations Officer of AMA, Numo Blaffo, in an interview with CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE, stressed that the AMA would begin full operations early next year.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive, Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije declared a Year of Action for the assembly and pledged to decongest the city.

He announced his outfit’s determination to remove all hawkers from the streets to keep Accra clean and maintain the high standards in the commercial centres.

Dr. Vanderpuije also promised to enforce vigorously all the Assembly’s bye laws on the environment and cleanliness.

He warned that the enforcement of the laws would enable the Assembly clear most of the filth that had engulfed the city to help Accra attain its status as “Millennium City.”

To ensure successful exercise, the Assembly released new bye-laws approved by the Local Government to arrest anyone who engages in street hawking as well as those who patronize the wares of street hawkers from April 1, 2011.

Per the new laws, no one is allowed to sell any merchandise to a driver of a vehicle or passenger.

Anyone found culpable of committing any of the above offences would be fined or in default serve a prison term not exceeding three months.

However when CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE visited the Central Business District on Monday, some recalcitrant hawkers who had ignored the AMA warnings, were seen transacting business on the roads and pavements.

But Yaw Badu, a taxi driver told the paper that the traders’ activities were causing serious vehicular traffic and appealed to the AMA to address the problems.

He also called on the Assembly to uphold its policies.