Some of the hawkers trading on the footbridge
Hawkers have completely taken over a pedestrian footbridge in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital.
They have turned the footbridge into a mini market where different items are sold to members of the general public.
Some of the daring hawkers have even mounted wooden structures on the footbridge to market their wares on a daily basis.
Owing to the development, pedestrians usually cross the street and compete with vehicles for space which endangers their lives.
Anger
The Metropolitan Roads Engineer for Kumasi, Ing. Nana Poku Agyeman, who has expressed gross concern about the trend, said the activities of the hawkers on the footbridge pose a threat to the public and other users of the facility.
He charged the relevant authorities to expel the hawkers from the footbridge to avert calamity in the city.
Ing. Nana Poku Agyeman said, “The pedestrians are expected to use the footbridge when crossing the road and the stationery load is more than the load bearing capacity of the footbridge.”
He added that “the infrastructure is now a deathtrap; I have notified the law enforcement agencies in Kumasi to enforce the laws and evict erring traders to serve as deterrent to others.
The Metropolitan Roads Engineer for Kumasi stressed that “national edifices need to be well maintained to reduce the cost of construction and reconstruction.”
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr.,