Traders at the Asafo Market in the Kumasi Metropolis of the Ashanti region on Monday, June 28, protested over the continuous flooding of the market. They have demanded that the authorities find a lasting solution to their plight.
The market within a week has suffered two major flooding after the region experienced two major downpours claiming at least seven lives.
The aggrieved traders wore red armed band and closed their shops to demonstrate.
The angry traders said their wares worth thousands of Ghana cedis were destroyed by the floodwaters in last week’s rains, a situation they blame on lack of care from the city authorities.
“We have been paying all these huge sums of money to them, tax and everything but anytime it rains, the market is flooded. This is not good and we want our leaders to work on this, it is too much”, one aggrieved protester said.
The traders also accused a contractor responsible for the building of shops around the market of blocking waterways, leading to the flooding of the market.
They said they have channeled their grievances to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) authorities but nothing has been done.
They, therefore, threatened not to pay taxes to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly if nothing is done about the flooding of the market.
“May be we have to top stop paying tax because we cannot be paying and every year we see these things. After that they will come and promise” one of them also said in Twi.
