AMA to sustain decongestion exercise

The Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, has said the planned decongestion exercise by the Assembly will be sustained until the city is kept clean.

The AMA is embarking on a decongestion exercise in some parts of Accra, today, Monday, 8 January, 2018.

Speaking on the exercise in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of the Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Monday, Mr Sowah said: “The hawkers should be law abiding because it is the Metropolitan Security Committee's decision endorsed by the regional security committee.

“We have police officers and military personnel as members of the task force for this exercise and I'm not too sure that it is in anybody’s interest to go and fight the police, that will not be accepted. And so, we are just encouraging the traders to be law abiding to ensure a peaceful city.

He added: “The exercise cost a lot of money to the city authority. However, with the kind of support from stakeholders like the media, we'll continue to talk to the traders and everybody to ensure the exercise is sustained.”

In an earlier statement warning the traders ahead of the exercise, the AMA said: “The Assembly wishes to remind the general public that their activities are contrary to the AMA hawkers by-laws of 2011 and section 117 (1) of the road traffic regulations, 2012 (LI 2180). Also the AMA is cautioning persons or group of persons who have illegally occupied government reserved lands and areas which have been cleared by the assembly previously to vacate with immediate effect. Especially those along the railway line at Kwame Nkrumah circle, Avenor, parts of Dzorwulu and other areas within the jurisdiction of the AMA.”

It added: “Furthermore, the AMA wishes to emphasise that all those who are plying their trade along the Barnes Roads and the Kwame Nkrumah avenue from the old Kingsway to NIB illegally to vacate those areas with immediate effect. The decongestion exercise will be spearheaded by the Metropolitan Security Committee (MESEC). The focus areas for the decongestion exercise are the Central Business District (CBD), Kaneshie market area, NI Highway, the (Mallam-Achimota stretch), Darkuman-Kokompe, Odokor-Kwashieman road, Nima Highway, Agbobloshie, Kwame Nkrumah interchange and its environs. All are enjoined to support this exercise to make Accra a place where we can all live in and love it.”