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Traders at the Makola Market in Accra have lauded the red line policy reintroduced by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in designated walkways in the Central Business District (CBD).
The traders, mostly women, said the initiative has allowed them to ply their wares in a safer space to earn a decent living.
The traders described the initiative as a “human centred” move that not only cleared the pedestrian walkways and the streets but also allowed them to sell without the fear of having their wares being seized.
The traders made the commendation recently when the Women Caucus of Parliament, in the company of the Chief Executive of the AMA, Michael Kpakpo Allotey, visited traders at the Makola Market to interact with them and learn at first-hand if the policy was impacting their trade.
The Caucus, led by its President, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, were also at the market to see how best Parliament could support the AMA to sustain the exercise to ensure the safety of traders.
The AMA redrew red boundary lines along designated pavements in the CBD in May 2025.
The policy was meant to regulate trading on designated pavements across the metropolis as part of efforts to restore order, enhance pedestrian safety and promote environmental sanitation.
During the visit by the women MPs, traders were seen selling their wares behind red lines drawn along the pathways in streets, creating freeways for pedestrians to move.
A 42-year-old fruit seller, Adwoa Konadu, told the MPs that unlike in the past when sellers traded their wares in the streets with fear of them being seized by personnel of the AMA, “we now sell our things with peace of mind”.
“Although sales are low, we sell our things to the public without the fear of our items being confiscated or us being beaten by personnel of the AMA,” she said.
A carrot seller, Abena Fosua, who had been selling in the streets for eight years, was full of praise for the AMA Chief Executive for consulting traders ahead of the initiative.
Ahead of the visit, Mrs Ghansah said as women parliamentarians, MPs had an oversight responsibility to check on how women were faring, especially when the AMA started the evacuation of the women from the streets.
She described the traders as vulnerable women who had no money and were being compelled to sell in the streets to make ends meet.
“If they were well-to-do, we would not find them on the street and we have to put ourselves in their shoes too and get them a better place to do their business,” the MP for Ada said.
The MP for La Dadekotopon, Rita Naa Odoley Sowah, who is a member of the committee and is also the Deputy Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, said:
“We need to support these women by relocating them because we all know it is not safe for them to be in the streets,” she said.
Mr Allotey said prior to the execution of the red line policy exercise, he went to the Makola market and lorry stations where he spent four hours each day consulting with traders and drivers about the exercise.
“I am not clearing them and I am not breaking anything, seizing goods or demolishing anything; I have just introduced the red lines to restore sanity,” he said.
The President of the Greater Accra Market Women Association, Mercy Nee Djan, appealed to the AMA Chief Executive and the MPs to see to the early completion of the Salaga and London Beach markets to create more space for traders in the streets.
