There is uneasiness in the Eastern Regional Capital Koforidua over imminent decongestion exercise scheduled to take effect after February ending.
The decongestion exercise initiated by the Eastern Regional Minister Seth Kwame Acheampong will begin in the New Juaben South Municipality subsequently replicated in all major towns in the region.
The exercise will not only target hawkers but also drivers,okade and pragyia riders parking and picking passengers at unapproved areas will be cleared from the streets.
Illegal structures erected will also be pulled down.
The decongestion exercise will be jointly carried out by the Regional Security Council and the various Municipal and District Assemblies.
A Sanitation court is expected to be reconstituted as part of the exercise to sanction persons found culpable.
The Eastern Regional Minister , Seth Kwame Acheampong has been embarking on stakeholder engagements to among things discuss ways to successfully carry out the exercise .
At the latest stakeholders forum organized on Wednesday by the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly and participated by transport unions, market women, pragyia riders, representatives of NDC and NPP among others ,participants welcomed the decongestion exercise and signed undertaking.
However, some appealed to the Assembly to find convenient places for them aside the proposed Argatha and Zongo markets and beads market which they say are already congested .
The Eastern Regional Minister Seth Kwame Acheampong said planning for the decongestion exercise has reached deployment stage.
“we believe in a democratic dispensation ,your best option is to engage the citizenry and to ensure that they appreciate and understand your mission, out mission is to decongest and ensure that we work with the city managers and ensure that the city is managed appropriately with the best practices wherever we travel to that’s what we are doing here”
“We have been holding meetings and about going to the ground to deploy but we can only deploy when we have already engaged the stakeholders else you end up receiving a back clash .Some road users are a bit recalcitrants , others are clear people who just don’t want to observe rules and if you don’t observe rules these are some of the things that happens and this exercise is taking place not because of what happened at Nsawam, this has been a long journey since last year.
We are not doing it only in Koforidua, but major municipalities such as Nkawkaw municipality, Nsawam , Oda , lower Manya as well as Asankese municipality, these areas are areas that are quite big and we are focusing on them” the Regional Minister said
The Municipal Chief Executive for New Juaben South , Isaac Appaw Gyasi said the assembly is resolute for the exercise to restore discipline to the Municipality.
The decongestion exercise is going to take effect , we are going to make sure that alternative places are provided for the market women so they can go and ply their trade.
“Nobody wants change and when changes are coming people resist it and so it is obvious that we going to have some people who are not going to be happy, but we have to make sure Koforidua is also counted among the best of cities within our country.
“We will make sure the roads are cleared, markets are decongested, people who have shelves and have decided to ply their trades on our streets, pavements will certainly be cleared, we want to make sure that Koforidua is a town that is full of discipline people”.
Meanwhile, there is ongoing special decongestion exercise this morning at Nkurakan a Community in Yilo along the Koforidua to Adukrom road. The community is notorious for selling on main road during market days creating gridlock .
Source : Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Kojo Ansah