Political will is needed to get hawkers off the pavements and other unauthorised vending points in Accra and beyond, Numo Blafo III, Public Relations Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), has said.
According to him, the AMA will need the support of the political parties, especially the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), if it is to succeed in driving away vendors from the streets.
Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM in connection with measures put in place by the AMA to deal with congestion on the streets of Accra due to commercial activity of some traders, Numo Blafo said: “Until we all come together as one to fight against this situation, it will be difficult. If the politicians will stop telling their followers to go and sell in those areas, it will help ensure that the place is kept clean.
“If we can come together and say this is not good or that is not right and so let us stop it, then there will be the political will and commitment to back the AMA to bring an end to the hawking [on the streets]. But if not, if after they have been driven off they rush to a political party’s headquarters and complain, then we at the AMA find ourselves in a crossfire – everyone fires at us and it becomes difficult getting them off the streets. And so we are pleading that we all come together to fight this problem.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
