Traders around the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra are up in arms against members of the Operation Clean Your Frontage taskforce.
The traders resisted moves by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, security personnel, and the Operation Clean Your Frontage taskforce to demolish their structures said to be sited at unauthorized locations in the area.
The retailers pelted stones at the bulldozer being used for the exercise, breaking its windscreen, amidst gunshots.
The exercise was immediately aborted while the task force moved to Kaneshie.
Citi News can report that the pavements around the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, where traders mount their wares, have been cleared and properly demarcated with wire mesh.
Kwame Nkrumah Circle is one of the major commercial business hubs in Accra, dominated by informal sector workers involved in buying and selling different products, particularly electronics.
The opposition to the exercise was expected, as many traders in the area ply their trade on pavements, with sanitation in the area being poor.
The Regional Minister anticipated the opposition when he stated last week that he will personally be present during the exercise to ensure that the recalcitrant traders are taken off the pavements.
It is, however, unclear how this exercise will be sustained, as this is not the first time traders have been cleared from pavements around the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange.
Traders who ply their business on the pavement usually return to the site a few days after such exercises are done.
“We shall clear the streets of trading activities from 1st February, and I will not be deterred by the ‘I voted for you comment.’ I will personally supervise the exercise because the traders are obstinate. All the mobile phone traders at Circle should move from there because I will order the task force to clear all the structures and burn them to ashes because they are stubborn. The trotro divers will also be cleared. We pray for life to do this on 1st February,” he said.
The ‘Operation clean your frontage’ was launched by President Akufo-Addo in October 2021 and is being championed by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, under the auspices of the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council with the tagline, ‘Let’s make Accra work’.
Various assemblies in the region have already stepped up efforts to ensure discipline in their respective jurisdictions.