Traders at Odawna Shopping Mall at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra are up against the Klottey Korle Municipal Assembly over the decision to demarcate the pavement in front of the burnt Mall for them to sell their wares as the government prepares to put up a befitting market for them.
The traders said the pavement is too small and cannot contain all of
them hence, the assembly should rather open the ground zero for them in
the interim to trade there.
Hundreds of stalls at the Odawna Market at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra were burnt on Wednesday, November 18, 2020.
The fire left residents of the area and shop owners at the market, also known as the Pedestrian Shopping Mall in shock.
The Municipal Assembly has accordingly started its demarcation but the
traders believe they were not ready to sell on the pavements.
They explained that apart from not being adequate for entire traders and
the danger it would pose to both traders and their customers, they
would be ejected after the December elections and the Christmas which
will also bring another challenge.
They are therefore appealing to President Nana Adoo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to
prevail on the Municipal Assembly to halt the demarcation exercise and
re-grade the market for them to start selling in the market.
MASLOC validation
Meanwhile, the Microfinance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC) was in the
market to begin the validation of over 4,000 victims of the fire
disaster to enable them begin payment of some reliefs by Friday Friday,
November 27.
Currently, the Klottey Korley Municipal Assembly has furnished MASLOC
with the names of the traders and they are giving each one of them a
special loan package to enable them to re-start business before
Christmas.
Speaking on the validation exercise on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa on Tuesday
hosted by Nana Okyere Awurukuo, the Greater Accra Regional Director of
MASLOC, Dennis Okyere Danso, “the assembly has given us the number of
traders and MASLOC is going for the information about the traders to
enable us give them money by Friday”.
Mr. Okyere Danso explained that to be able to qualify for the relief
fund, every trader must come alone with “two passport size pictures and a
photocopy of any national ID”.
He explained that MASLOC would do the exercise in a round figure of 1000
and then make the monies available to them before it can continue.
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