A food vendor now selling on the newly constructed Pokuase Interchange has been arrested for turning the location into a food joint.
A video of the woman busily attending to a queue of customers on the side of the interchange trended a couple of days ago following which the police stormed the place and arrested her.
The Ga West Municipal Assembly Chief Executive, Clement Wilkinson, who has oversight responsibility over the Ga North Municipal Assembly where the project is located, said in a statement that together with the Municipal Coordinating Director for Ga North and Assembly Members, they “have taken the necessary steps to stop the said woman from carrying out such illicit activity around the interchange.”
The statement further warned persons engaging in such illegal activities in other parts of the municipality to “desist forthwith or be dealt with in accordance with the law,” adding that “the general public is also being reminded that the project is for everyone, and so he encourages all and sundry to be citizens and not spectators so that the interchange can serve its intended purpose.”
It would be recalled that earlier the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council dispatched a rapid response team to go and clear hawkers and trotro drivers who had turned one of the lanes into a lorry station and a market. Plantain, cassava, used clothes and other vendors had also joined them on the interchange market until the swoop on them by the response team.
It has emerged that in a bid to outwit the authorities, the food sellers, some of them selling banku and tilapia and omotuo, commence business around 4pm and close shop at around 9pm during which time they do not expect prying eyes on them.
Business is so brisk for the sellers that queues of customers never fail to attract the attention of passersby, one of who captured the scene on video and disseminated same via social media.
Many have asked why the assembly in whose jurisdiction the interchange falls does not put guards permanently at the place to ensure that traders do not turn the place into a market.
Now that the busiest of the food sellers has been arrested, it is unknown whether the others would show up for the business which is fast becoming a feature of the multi-million four-tier interchange.
Engineers are worried about the negative effects of cooking and pounding of fufu, especially on the asphalted interchange. Even drops of lubricants from weak vehicle engines can damage asphalted surfaces.
Until a permanent solution is found for the abuse of the interchange, the traders and authorities would be engaged in a cat-and-mouse game until one of them blinks.