By Thomas Nsowah Adjei
Occupants of the Suame inner market stores have appealed to the Suame Municipal Assembly to compensate them before vacating the stores for redevelopment.
According to the occupants, numbering about 500, their chances of reoccupying the stores after the project’s completion are not guaranteed.
The structure is earmarked for demolition and redevelopment by the authorities of the Assembly after successful consultation and negotiation with the traders are complete.
The traders have threatened to protest against the policy through demonstrations. Our reporter with GBC News in Kumasi, Michael Akapae Adombila, has the rest of the story. The reconstruction of the Suame Inner Market is estimated to affect over 1,000 traders.
It is the contention of the traders that the shops they are occupying are their bonified property because they purchased the shops outright from the previous regime.
According to one Dominic Adu Bremah, who claimed to be the landlord, it is because a market is not managed by an individual that the Assembly was permitted to supervise the activities of the market, including the structure under contention.
He said failure by the Assembly to meet their demand would call for a court injunction to stop the project.
The Chairman of a group of traders, Mohammed Kamara, said they have received letters from the Suame Municipal Assembly indicating that the market is going to be reconstructed to become an ultra-modern market, a decision they described as very fantastic.
He said the traders are not ready to challenge the authority but their only interest is adequate compensation.
One of the women leaders, Abena Achiaa, said they were relocated from the Race Course to Suame market and were operating from the peripherals of the market but were compelled to buy the stores to ensure their safety.
The Assembly member for the area Yusif Hamid said the assembly is yet to meet with the traders before the demolition takes place.
