According to the traders, the project came to a halt in December 2022.

They said they were told by the government that the project was halted due to the Debt Restructuring Programme, and that work will be resumed when the first tranche of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) money hit the accounts of the government.

In a radio interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the General Secretary of the Secondhand Cloth sellers Association, Joseph Marfo expressed disappointment about the delay of the project.

He said “We are just a few months away from the elections, and all we want is for the market to be built. If the government fails to do that, we will not vote for them in the elections.

We have staged a number of demonstrations, but none has yielded any positive result. The traders who were relocated are recording low sales. Their suppliers need their monies, now this has become a burden to them,” he stated.

The traders said during the five-day protest, they will picket and remove all the barricades on the project. They have also served notice that after the demonstration, if nothing is heard, they will storm the uncompleted market site with their goods and commodities to trade.