Chairman of the Circle Youth Traders Association (CYTA), Hashim Hamid, has announced that he and his colleagues will fix the structures which were damaged last weekend in the vicinity of the Circle Interchange by some irate traders.
Speaking to the DAILY GUIDE, he said that the destruction of some structures, a fire station and the office used by the taskforce established by AMA to ensure that hawkers do not sell on pavements was regrettable.
The action of the traders came at the heels of a mediation meeting his association and the Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Adjei Sowah, held earlier.
The meeting, he said, was held at the behest of the association to have the AMA delay another planned action to rid the interchange area of remnants of hawkers still breaching the order debarring selling within prohibited areas.
According to him, the AMA had agreed to their request and they (the leadership of the traders) were about to compile a list of hawkers with a view to seeking their interest in a manner which would be agreeable to both parties. With such a list, he said those without a proper place to sell would be supported to acquire one in the nearby Pedestrian Market or elsewhere.
He charged hawkers not to take the law into their hands but to depend on the leadership to act on their behalf.
Hashim Hamid called for restraint by both traders and their assigns, advising that dialogue should be exhausted before any option is considered.
“Although the AMA is ready to listen to the leadership, it would not, however, compromise on breaching the order regarding selling on pavements and on the major ceremonial roads in the general area of the interchange,” he said.
“We would not rest on our oars until sanity is restored in the area even as we seek the interests of traders,” Hashim Hamid added.
By A.R. Gomda