Kejetia market fire: Traders demand reopening of 807 shops

Some traders have broken into the barricaded area which was affected by the fire outbreak at the Kumasi Kejetia market.

Clad in red attire and armbands, the traders stormed the affected part of the market and removed the barricades.

The traders are displeased that 807 shops at the market have been closed down, affecting their source of livelihood, when only about 34 shops were affected by the fire.

Since they have not been allocated a place to do their business, the traders noted they cannot stay home.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Combined Kumasi Kejetia Traders Association, Andrews Kwofie, who addressed the media on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, bemoaned the effect of the closure of the shops on the livelihood of the traders.

According to the PRO, no real work has been done since the closure of the shops by the authorities.

He noted that: “the debris has not even been cleaned” and wondered “What have the authorities been doing over the past 11 days.”

“If we say authorities we’re referring to the Kumasi Mayor and by extension the board, when he was notified about the debris, he told us that it is not his responsibility, whose responsibility is it to clear the debris to allow peaceful market women to engage in their trading activities? This is the core matter, nobody should just twist anything to favour him,” Mr Kwofie noted.

The PRO demanded the reopening of the closed shops.

“We are demanding immediate opening of 807 shops and if this is not done we have only one hour to open it ourselves.”.

He accused the authorities of not doing anything to make sure the market is restored for the traders to return to work since the fire incident some few weeks ago.

“We dare authorities to show us a road map they have drawn to guide us all to getting the affected areas back to track or back to normalcy…nothing of that sort has been done, that is our demand, we’ll continue to demand that.”

With the Easter festivities just around the corner, he quizzed “Are the authorities saying that these 807 shops should not partake in trading activities and go hungry? Is that what they’re telling us? How do the families that depend on the 807 shops survive?”

The vice chairman indicated that supervision at the market was very poor even before the fire incident.

According to him, if the supervision had been apt, the fire would not have occurred.