The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has given a five-day ultimatum to commercial drivers and traders who refused to use lorry stations and markets to ply their trade to do so before Tuesday, February 1, 2022.
According to him, the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) together with various stakeholders in the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) would hit the streets to sack all traders and drivers who failed to comply with the order.
The move, he explained, formed part of the “Operation Clean Your Frontage” campaign which would kick-start on February 1, at the Central Business District, (CBD), Ashaiman and Tema Metropolitan area.
Mr Quartey said this when he addressed the media at his meeting with some transport operators, Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), market queens, and metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives in the region on the implementation of “Operation Clean Your Frontage” in Accra on Tuesday.
He said the exercise would see about 20,000 volunteers deployed from Youth Employment Agency (YEA), National Service Secretariat together with various MCEs, city response team and himself.
It would be carried out in AMA, Ga East, Korle Klottey, La-Dade Kotopon, Okaikwei North, Ledzokuku, Ablekuma Central and the Adentan Municipal Assemblies.
Others are La Nkwantanang-Madina, Kpone Katamanso, Ablekuma North, Ashaiman, Ningo-Prampram, and the Shai Osudoku Municipal Assemblies, he noted.
Mr Quartey explained that the exercise would begin with mass education and sensitisation programmes to ensure it was not forced on anyone, but made to understand in order to achieve the goal of “making Accra work again.”
“We don’t want it to be like this exercise is being forced on people. We want them to embrace it and make it part and parcel of their livelihoods or daily lives so that everybody can come on board to make Accra clean,” he added.
Mr Quartey charged the assemblies to ensure the strict observance of the COVID-19 protocol as they went about their duties.
On her part, the Greater Accra Market Queen, Ms Mercy Needjan, lamented that traders who sell on pavements sometimes risked their lives as some get hit by moving vehicles, and expressed an urgent need for them to sell inside the markets.
She said the campaign was laudable and called on traders to adhere to it to avoid their goods being confiscated once the exercise began.
BY JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE
