Scores of squatters, hawkers and traders were on Thursday ejected from walkways around the Accra Mall during a demolition exercise organised by the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA).
A team of police officers and LaDMA officials pulled down or turned upside down unauthorised structures such as kiosks, makeshift stalls and other wooden structures used by the squatters and traders.
Led by the Municipal Chief Executive, Mrs Gladys Mann-Dedey and the La District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Oduro Amaning, the demolition exercise started around 4 am. when most of the traders were yet to turn up for business.
By 6 am when they turned up, their structures could not be found.
Illegal businesses
Lately, the walkways beneath the ‘Spanner junction’ overhead footbridge right to the lorry park adjacent the Accra Mall have become a booming market, where all sorts of trading activities take place.
The area has also become a hotspot for begging activities, especially by children who harass people who use that route for money while their parents look on.
Mrs Mann-Dedey told journalists that the exercise became necessary after the traders and squatters failed to relocate to the lorry park, in spite of consistent warnings from the assembly.
The activities, she said, were illegal and an obstruction to people who use the walkways.
“We have asked them to relocate to the lorry park, but they have refused to go. The assembly gave them 21 days to relocate and the deadline expired about three weeks ago. We followed it up with many announcements, but they still refused to relocate,” she explained.
She described the mini market around the walkway as a “disgrace’’ and an indictment on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
“The President wants Accra to be the cleanest city in Africa and we must work hard to make that vision a reality. The assembly is not destroying their business; we are just telling them to move to the lorry park to conduct their activities in accordance with law,” she said.
Reservations
Some of the affected traders and squatters who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed reservation about the demolition.
A T-Shirt seller, Mr George Adiku, said the exercise would have an adverse effect on their businesses.
He appealed to LadMA to institute measures that would allow the traders to conduct their business on the walkways until 10 a.m. every day.
A phone accessories dealer, Mr Kwesi Opoku, said the traders were prevented from relocating to the lorry park by some people.
“We wanted to move there but someone who claims to be the landowner of the park prevented us from moving there to engage in our trading activities,” he said.
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