Excerpts of ‘Tuesday showdown’ at Kwame Nkrumah Interchange

Sanity is returning to the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra following the ‘showdown’ led by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey, and taskforces from various Municipal Assemblies on Tuesday in the ‘Operation Clean your Frontage.’

Defiant traders who often seized the pavements and other undesignated areas to display their wares advised themselves as unauthorised wooden and concrete structures were pulled down.

Business temporarily came to a halt with sanitation trucks and personnel standing by to clear the filth that had engulfed the area.

As expected, some traders resisted the exercise by pelting stones at the bulldozers brought to site. However, the hundreds of security personnel deployed to the area managed to execute the task in record time. Floating commercial drivers operating lawlessly were also not left out.

The pavements now appear organised as parts have been demarcated with wire mesh to separate trading from pedestrian activities. City authorities said some of the merchants had been relocated to available spaces at the Odawna and nearby markets.

Mr.Quartey had earlier indicated that the exercise was in the best interest of the traders but not meant to deprive them of their livelihood. That, indeed, was the case as some law-abiding traders and pedestrians hailed him and the team for resolving to make ‘Accra work again.’

The exercise which formed part of the ‘Make Accra Work Again’ agenda, was extended to Kaneshie, Abossey Okai and the Central Business District.

It was part of measures by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council to keep the City clean and enforce sanitation regulations in the city.

Although there has been some satisfaction with the exercise, some members of the public want the prevailing sanity to be sustained.

By Lizzy Okai