By Rachel Kakraba
Some Ghanaians in Accra, have welcomed the relocation of traders who hitherto plied their trade on pavements in the Central Business District. They said the traders contributed to massive congestion in the city centre saying their relocation is a step in the right direction. The residents are however appealing to the authorities to resettle those affected in order to sustain their livelihood as a measure to prevent them from returning to the pavement. This came up when GBC News visited the Central Business District almost a month after the major clean up and decongestion code named “Operation Clean your Frontage”.
Spearheaded by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council, operation clean your frontage took off on February 1, 2022 as a response to the worsening sanitation situation in most parts of Accra. At the Accra Central and Nkrumah Interchange formerly known as Nkrumah Circle, scores of traders who prior to the exercise had taken over the pavements, were absent, thereby giving commuters some relief in accessing the walkways. The activities of these traders on the pavements of the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, was the direct cause of the fire which razed the Pedestrian Shopping Mall. Although the traders resisted attempts to be relocated their protest did not yield much as they were eventually hauled off. Some commuters GBC News spoke to, welcomed the decongestion saying ”it has improved movement mobility in that part of the city”. But this is not the first time such an exercise has been carried out in the Metropolis.
Although many of the traders have stayed off the sidewalks, a few recalcitrant ones are yet to fully oblige. Months on, there are visible signs suggesting that with the least opportunity, trading on the pavements will bounce back. Beautification of the city requires collective efforts and the traders acknowledge their activities on the pavements are ”a nuisance to commuters and city authorities”.
