The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Cape Coast, Ernest Arthur, has rejected claims by some members of the assembly that Kotokuraba market stalls are being allocated to supporters of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the area.

The group, Concerned Assembly Members of Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, at a press conference on Friday 7 July, 2017 accused Central Regional Minister Kwamena Duncan and Cape Coast MCE Ernest Arthur of mischievously allocating the market to sympathisers of the NPP, neglecting the original occupants.

But the MCE, speaking to Class News, has denied the allegations.

He said: “We have categories of occupants, we have the original occupants, we have the inside wall stalls, and we have the open market stalls and we have inside table stalls. These are the categories. And the court instructed that the original occupants should be the first people to get stalls. So every original occupant is taken care of.

“[The allegation] is not true, every original occupant has a stall. As far as the assembly’s books are concerned, no original occupant has been left out. If anybody has a document that an original occupant has been left out, let them produce it. If an original occupant has been left out we will quickly look at it, but I can assure you there is nobody who is an original occupant who has been left out of the market allocation.”

However, an assembly member, Kingsley Boafo, insists their clams are true and that the market queen has been denied a spot in the market. He warned that they would go to court if the right thing is not done.