Henry Quartey
The relocation of onion sellers from their previous location at Agbogbloshie to Adjen Kotoku is one of the best decisions to have been taken by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council with the Regional Minister Henry Quartey leading the charge.
It was an expensive relocation and ruffling but was worth it.
Following the movement to the new site, a location better than the previous place by all standards, those who resisted the movement had cause to commend the regional minister for the decision.
We have heard that some of the onion sellers have expressed worry about the lack of adequate facilities at the new place.
They have, for instance, complained about the lack of sufficient sheds for onions and places of convenience, among others.
While we do not oppose their right to complain about facilities which the Ga West Municipal Assembly should provide them, we stand against their not telling the whole truth.
It is on record that the assembly, in whose jurisdiction the Adjen Kotoku Onion Market stands, has moved towards creating more places of convenience but the onion sellers rejected this preferring rather, the erection of more sheds.
Further attempts at convincing them to go by the assembly’s advice did not yield dividends as they stood their grounds. In the end, the assembly heeded their stand and moved the project for a second place of convenience elsewhere.
It has been eight months since the relocation of the market from its previous location to the Adjen Kotoku. The various facilities without doubt could have all been in place by now.
The aggrieved onion sellers should, however, appreciate the fact that with limited resources and competing demands, providing facilities such as they are demanding takes time sometimes.
We are convinced that the promise by the assembly to create more sheds and provide the facilities, which are lacking there, would be met. The delay should, however, not be regarded as a refusal to consider the interests of the onion sellers.
The present location is a better place than the eyesore which Agbogbloshie represented when the market operated there.
The onion sellers are beginning to behave like over-pampered kids. After being offered some compensation to encourage their movement, perhaps those of them complaining so much expect to be pampered again.
The authorities know their responsibilities. We shall remind when we see that they are slumbering on their responsibilities. But to rush them because of a certain sense of unbridled entitlement in the way some of the sellers are beginning to behave is uncalled for.
As for the decision and the state of the new location, both are the best to have happened to the sellers and the city of Accra.
We urge the Ga West Municipal District Chief Executive, Clement Wilkinson, to, however, walk his talk and pronto.