THE PRESTIGIOUS Market Circle at Takoradi is under siege from rodents. Chronicle observation at the Takoradi market circle after sellers from the market complained bitterly about the filthy state of the market on a Takoradi radio station confirmed that rodents are fast taking over the market.

According to the sellers, mice which are as big as rats enter their stalls and shops to destroy their wares after every market session, leading to heavy losses.

In order to prove their case, some of the sellers directed Chronicle to where some of the mice hide and lo and behold they looked like rats.

When the women were asked about the causes of the rise in the number of rodents in the market, they said that the filthy nature of the market was a contributory factor.

They lamented the inadequate number of washrooms or urinary basins, saying the situation compelled most sellers to urinate into chamber pots and throw them into gutters in the market, thereby attracting all kinds of animals.

Congestion and inadequate ventilation was also stated as some of the causes of the rise in the number of rodents.

"The Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly (SAEMA) should be blamed for the inadequate ventilation in the market because it turned part of the main gates and every small space in the market into stores," one market woman added.

They also blamed some of their colleagues for contributing to the problem by cooking, eating and leaving surplus food in the market, thereby attracting various types of rodents.

Asked why they do not want to move to the Apramdo market, they replied: "We do not make profit when selling there, we always lose."

They advised SAEMA to live up to the task of eliminating the rodents from the market before any disaster struck.

However, Mr. Philip Kweku Nkrumah, district chief executive (DCE) of SAEMA, in an interview with Chronicle, said the market is cleaned two times each day by ABC Waste Management Company.

He also noted that Market Circle was sprayed about five months ago and that the SAEMA was doing its best to purge the market with the help of the Environmental Protection Agency.

On the congestion at the market, he said the SAEMA had put in place all the necessary infrastructure at the new Apramdo market to attract sellers from the Market Circle but he could not understand why the sellers were refusing to move.

The DCE said he was doing all in his power to convince some of the sellers to move to the new market in order to decongest the old market.

He also said more washrooms and urinals would be constructed in the market in order to avoid the incidence of sellers pouring urine into the gutters of the market.