The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has once again started an exercise to rid the metropolis of illegal structures put up by traders.
A task force on Thursday demolished all makeshift structures belonging to hawkers around the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange.
Many of the affected hawkers accused the AMA of failing to give them prior notice of the demolition, claiming they had regretted voting for Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2016 elections.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the AMA, Numo Blafo, however, said adequate notice was given.Â
"Since March, we have issued statements, issued reminders and since then our information vans have been coming around. In fact, individually we have been coming around to inform them that definitely, we will be coming so they should relocate from these places but they were recalcitrant as we all know".Â
This is about the umpteenth time the AMA has carried out such an exercise. The last one undertaken immediately after the Nkrumah Interchange was inaugurated in December last year, could not be sustained, just as the previous ones.
The hawkers trooped back following the change of government, hoping the NPP administration would allow them to occupy the walkways along the interchange.
Numo Blafo maintains the current exercise would be sustained. The city authorities say the exercise will go beyond the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to rid all of Accra of illegal structures put up by traders.
"We [are] looking at all the areas that have been encroached upon by traders like Kaneshie, the CBD area [Central Business District], [and] Abeka Lapaz. In fact, everywhere within the metropolis that we have this kind of nuisance, we [are] going to remove it".
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