The Mayor of Accra, Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey, has urged traders at the Kantamanto Market to comply with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) Red Line Policy and support ongoing sanitation efforts by embracing the newly introduced daily toll system beginning next year.
Mayor Allotey made the call at the official reopening of the market and the unveiling of Kantamanto Obroniwawu Businesses’ Association on Monday, seven months after a devastating fire destroyed more than 7,000 shops, displaced over 30,000 traders, and claimed one life.
Addressing the gathering, the Mayor explained that the AMA spends about 70 per cent of its internally generated funds on sanitation stressing that the Assembly had decided to replace the GH₵15 market license fee with a GH₵2 daily toll to ensure efficiency in revenue collection and improve waste management in the market.
“This fairer system will make life easier for traders while still helping us generate the revenue we need to manage refuse collection. I assure you that all the revenue collected will be used to improve sanitation so that our market and streets remain clean and healthy for everyone,” he stressed.
Mayor Allotey appealed to traders to stay behind the Red Line demarcations, warning that street trading created congestion, endangered lives, and hampered free movement.
“I am not against any trader. I am only against disorder and congestion that block the progress of our city. I am pleading with you to stay behind the red line,” he emphasised.
Leadership of the Kantamanto Traders Association confirmed that its members had agreed to begin paying the GH¢2 daily tolls from next year to restore order and support sanitation management after the January fire outbreak.
