Commentary, Opinion

Opinion Piece: 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗞𝘂𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗶 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 A 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗼𝗿’𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗿 A 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻?

On April 14, 2025, the newly confirmed Mayor of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi issued a two-week ultimatum to traders clogging the pavements of Kumasi’s central business district. His goal is to decongest the chaotic streets of Adum and restore order to a city choking under the weight of informal commerce.

Yet, his approach, embedded with threats of physical violence, including lashing, and a self-styled “military-democratic” ethos, raises questions about governance, justice, and the role of a mayor in a democratic society. His words, particularly the frightening assertion, “I don’t like reporting many things to the police… if we say leave this place and you don’t leave, and my ten boys are with me, there and then we will beat you,” are not just inflammatory. These words erode rule of law and plant dangerous seeds in the public psyche.

A mayor is not a warlord, nor a vigilante wielding unchecked power. A mayor is a steward of public trust, tasked with harmonizing the needs of a city’s diverse stakeholders; traders, commuters, businesses through dialogue, policy, and lawful enforcement. Mayor Boadi’s threat to bypass the Ghana Police Service and mete out beatings with “his ten boys” demeans the very institutions that uphold order. His words suggest a troubling disdain for due process. Ostensibly, this is casting the police as ineffective and implying that citizens, too, might take justice into their own hands. What does he mean by traders “finding their own means” to return to the streets? Is he insinuating that the police are complicit or corrupt, unable to enforce evictions? If so, his solution, violence over reform, only deepens the crisis of confidence in public institutions.

This rhetoric aligns disturbingly with the hypodermic needle and cultivation theories of communication, which explore how media shape perceptions. The mayor used the media to inject a narrative of confrontation into the minds of Ghanaians by framing traders as defiant scofflaws deserving of physical punishment. Over time, such messaging risks cultivating a culture where violence is normalized as a response to civic challenges. Are we to report uncouth behavior to the police, as citizens are taught, or to emulate the mayor’s example and “beat” those who defy us? His words whisper a perilous precedent: that might trumps right, and that power, not law, resolves disputes. This is no trifling matter in a nation striving to uphold democratic ideals.

As a professional journalist and budding development communication strategist, I find the mayor’s approach not only authoritarian but shortsighted. Kumasi’s pavement traders, often women scraping by on meager earnings, are not criminals but products of systemic failures. The inadequate trading spaces have left them with few options but the streets. Past decongestion efforts faltered not for lack of force but for ignoring these root causes. Threatening violence without offering viable alternatives alienates the very people the mayor claims to serve. It breeds resentment, not compliance, and risks escalating tensions into unrest, as traders have historically returned to pavements despite evictions.

A participatory approach, grounded in consultation, would serve Kumasi better. Development communication teaches us that sustainable change comes from engaging stakeholders, not dictating terms. The mayor could convene traders, market leaders, and urban planners to co-create solutions by designating affordable trading zones or providing temporary relocation support. Such measures would address congestion while respecting the dignity and livelihoods of traders. Instead, his belligerent stance shuts the door on dialogue, framing the issue as a battle to be won rather than a problem to be solved.

The mayor’s defenders might argue that Kumasi’s chaos demands a firm hand, that softer measures have failed to curb indiscipline. Yet, strength need not mean cruelty. Leadership lies in inspiring cooperation, not fear. Mayor Boadi’s words undermine the police and glorify violence. His “military-democratic” vision is neither democratic nor just. Of course, it is a relic of a less enlightened era which is unfit for a modern Ghana.

Kumasi deserves better. It deserves a mayor who champions law over lawlessness, dialogue over domination, and progress over punishment. The traders on Adum’s pavements are not enemies but citizens, striving through hardship. Let us address their plight with empathy and ingenuity, not the lash. Let us build a city where order and compassion coexist, not one where “ten boys” decide justice. The mayor must RETRACT his threats and understand that he is not a pugilist. He must rebuild trust and lead as a unifier. Ghana is watching, and history will judge.