Kumasi, Ghana, June 29, 2019//-A section of traders at the Kumasi Central Market who are due to be relocated to the Kejetia Market have expressed worry about the terms of relocation being applied by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA).
The KMA is demanding a down payment of GHC 48,000 from prospective market owners; renewable every five years.
Addressing a press conference in Kumasi, Reuben Amey, Secretary of the Concerned Central Market Traders Association (CCMTA) said they cannot afford the cost of the shops.
The KMA is relocating the traders to the newly built Kejetia for work to be done on the new Central Market being constructed by the government but the traders are not happy about the cost of shops at Kejetia which they describe as too exorbitant.
According to Armey, they have to go and seek for bank loan in order to occupy a space in the new Kejetia market.
He noted that per the directive of the KMA, traders are going to be at the mercy of the politicians, and they will have to go for loan every five years.
Armey said: “Let us not lose sight of the fact that almost all traders in the Central Market are trading with loan”, a development he said is like an albatross around their neck.
By Oppong Baah, African Eye Report
