Hundreds of market women trading at the Akateng market in the Eastern Region are left stranded following the state of the market which continues to leave traders frustrated.
A visit by GhanaWeb’s Michael Oberteye to the market revealed that the women have no option but to continue to trade in the open and at the mercy of the sun and rains owing to the failure of successive governments to give the market an upgraded.
The women who have been left to their fate in an interview rehashed passionate pleas made over the years for the market to be given a facelift. The market which is located close to Volta Lake has lots of fishing activities nearby.
A place of convenience being put up for use by the traders has also come to a standstill, compelling them to resort to unorthodox means of attending to nature's call.
Market queen for the yam sellers at the market, Paanor Hannah, told this portal that they had no option but to continue to endure the difficulties following the failure of authorities to come to their aid.
“We need sheds over here because the sun scorches our produce a lot so we need sheds in which we can keep our left-over foodstuffs.
“The absence of the sheds is affecting us a lot and something urgent must be done about the situation. This is resulting in many market women falling sick regularly from the heat of the sun,” she revealed.
She also lamented that though they had severally discussed the problem with the Local Assembly, nothing has been done about the situation.
Another, 39-year-old Sylvia Korkor Kwadwo who has been selling gari and corn dough at the market for the past twenty years had this to say. “We don’t have storage facilities here to keep our foodstuff. During the rains too, we don’t have anywhere to take shelter.”
According to her, the situation has brought untold hardships to them as they are unable to generate enough income to look after their children, adding that they hardly get the opportunity to meet the authorities to discuss their concerns with them.
Another market women, Lawer Ayerkie Vida who has also plied her trade at the Akateng market for the past thirteen years added: “Our major problem is that whenever the river extends its boundaries, where to take shelter becomes a big problem for us. They should come and assist us with sheds or a different location.”
For Sarah Mamle Teye who has been at the market for the past three years, erecting a wall around the market as a first step to keep their foodstuffs safe from animals would be highly appreciated.
“Our major problem is that we have nowhere to keep our left-over products. If we leave them here, we return to realise that pigs and goats have eaten them.
“The DCE came here to talk to us and we told him this place should be fenced in the meantime to prevent the animals from coming in.
“They promised to work on it but we haven’t heard from them since and we still don’t have anywhere to keep our goods,” she noted.
The situation has compelled the traders to rent canopies and tents to keep them going.
“We have no sheds, we rent all these tents at Ghc15 a day and they still take market tolls from us. They should come build the sheds for us the yam sellers so that the sun does not scorch us anymore,” she added.
Some of the traders vowed not to pay market tolls until the issues have been resolved.
Fati who has plied her trade at the market for twenty years said, “We’ve made up our minds not to pay the market tolls because this place is not part of the country. The rains have been beating us for the past twenty years. The landlords are also preventing us from putting up sheds over here so we have realized Akateng is not part of the country so we don’t want anybody to come here for tolls.”
Assemblyman for Akateng in an interview acknowledged the concerns of the traders and agreed that works need to be done on the market and urged the Upper Manya Krobo District Assembly to initiate works on the facility.
An opinion leader in the community, Famous Dodzi Amuornye also expressed regret at the state of the market. He argued that the market is bigger than many popular markets in the District and hence must be given the necessary attention.
Traders at the Akateng market