A task force of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has demolished shops and structures on pavements in and around Katamanto and the Cocoa Marketing Board in the Central Business District of the capital as part of efforts to decongest those areas.
The exercise which took place last Saturday began at about 10 a.m. and lasted till late into the afternoon, as many traders looked on obviously worried.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, some of the traders who had their structures demolished said they had no prior notice and did not know that the assembly would embark on such an exercise.
A trader who gave her name as Agnes, however, conceded that the assembly had earlier prompted shop owners to vacate the pavement but some did not pay heed to the warning.
The task force carried light containers to their office. In the process of doing away with structures in unauthorised locations, some goods were also destroyed.
Traders unhappy A trader, Mr Kingsford Acquah, said he had a hint of the exercise and so hurried to clear his shop of the second-hand clothing in it, even though it eventually got destroyed.
He said his 25-foot container shop which was imported into the country cost more than GH¢4,000.
He said he wondered why some other containers that were situated on pavements were not touched.
The AMA had previously carried out similar exercises at Agbogbloshie, Abuja and other areas in the city.
<<Print>>