Central Regional Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwamena Duncan, has slammed government for being insensitive to the plights of traders at the Kantamanto market a few days ago.
�Traders have incurred such huge loss and all that government can do is to add salt to injuries. Government has shown gross insensitivity in this matter. This government do not have apathy at all...they have lost their property and even place of sleep and all you can do is to ask them to move, spraying tear gas and so; that is not how to behave�
Traders at Kantamanto lost their properties worth billions to fire which engulfed the market. The traders at Kantamanto have vowed to rebuild their sheds even though the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has given them a directive not to and has ordered them to move to the Tuesday market in Accra.
Government is planning to rebuild the market to ensure safety and to avoid a repetition of such fire debacles.
The traders who gave reasons that authorities will take the area away from them if they move have vowed not to move and this led to a clash between them and the police, leading to the use of �minimum force and the arrest of 10 persons.
Speaking to Kwami Sefa-Kayi on Peace FM, Kwamena Duncan said it is the �highest sense of insensitivity� for government to even think using force to move them out of the market.
According to him, government should have discussed with the leaders and told them what they (government) intended to do instead of �just forcing them to move�.
�Looking at the number of the traders at Kantamanto, how can they fill into Tuesday market and to top it up, you are forcing them to move knowing that they just experienced a huge loss of property. They should have called the executives or leaders of Kantamanto and discuss the way forward. All you do is ask them to move. It is never done�� he asserted.
Meanwhile, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly has assured affected traders that they will be the first to be considered after reconstruction of the market.
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