The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has ordered hawkers who ply their trade on pavements, footbridges and other opens spaces to leave.It said it would be conducting a decongestion exercise to rid the Metropolis of such activities.
The order was given in a statement signed by Mr Sam Ayeh-Datey, the Metropolitan Coordinating Director, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday. The statement said: “We wish to bring to the fore that their activities are a contributory factor to the heaps of garbage deposited along the roads and additionally, they also place themselves in harm’s way as vehicles can accidentally crash into them as had been witnessed many times before.”
It reminded the encroachers that their activities are contrary to the AMA Hawkers Bye-law of 2011 and Section 117(1) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012(L.I. 2180), which are punishable by law. The AMA further reminded all property owners within its jurisdiction of the Premises Maintenance Bye-law 1995, which directs property owners or occupiers of the need to “white wash, paint or put the premises in a state of cleanliness.”
The statement said the decongestion exercise would be done in phases with the active collaboration of the Ghana Police Service. It said the focus areas would be the Central Business District, Kaneshie Market Area, N1 Highway - (the Mallam-Achimota stretch), Darkuman-Kokompe, Odorkor-Kwashieman Road, Nima Highway, Agbogbloshie, and the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and its environs.
The statement called on all those who ply their trading along the Barnes Road and the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue from Old Kingsway to N.I.B to vacate those areas with immediate effect while all others are cautioned to go behind the “”Red Line”, a demarcated lines by the AMA.