Accra, July 20, GNA - The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) on Wednesday said it was conducting checks on reports alleging that 20 girls selling iced water had been arrested by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) taskforce on various streets of Accra. The Ministry also said the AMA had rejected claims that the 20 iced water sellers had been found guilty by the AMA Court and subsequently sent to the Nsawam Prisons because they could not pay for the GH¢600 fines imposed on them.

A statement signed by Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, said a follow-up by MOWAC on the report at AMA indica= ted that even though the Assembly had been engaged in the enforcement of the hawking bye-laws, the taskforce had not arrested and prosecuted 20 girls in the AMA court.

It said that according to the AMA, street sellers, who had been arreste= d and prosecuted, were those who on various occasions had attacked and assaulted the AMA taskforce in their attempt to get them off the streets. "The ministry is conducting further checks on the issue to address t= he situation," it said, and appealed to the street hawkers to desist from attacking the taskforce who had been mandated to enforce the bye-laws. The statement also called on the AMA taskforce to exercise restraint and adopt a human face in the exercise of their duties.