There’s No Plan to Close Kejetia Market on Dec 7- Kumasi Mayor

The Chief Executive Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Sam Pyne, has stated that there are no plans on the table to shut down the Kejetia Market on Saturday when the country goes to the polls.

In an interview, he discredited the letter announcing the said move as “fake”.

“Regarding the New Kejetia Market, the Assembly, Regional Security Council (REGSEC), and Municipal Security Council have not taken any decision to close down that facility because of elections,” CNR quotes him as saying.

He furthered, “It was one National Democratic Congress (NDC) surrogate who wrote a false letter just to distract attention, some of these things need to be reported to the police because it causes fear and panic. I will officially report the matter to the regional police command for action to be taken.”

According to him, the plan is to provide the needed security for all installations and not close any down.

“REGSEC, Municipal Security Council, we met Tuesday, and Wednesday and took a decision that all installations within the region be protected during the elections. We have not taken any decision to close down any of the markets within the Kumasi metropolis and across the region on election day… What we are doing is to protect all installations.”

This comes after the market queens issued a statement opposing the move yesterday, registering its dissatisfaction.

The Kumasi Kejetia Queen Mothers Association relayed that the plan was first announced to them in the form of a request by the Presidential Running Mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh during a meeting but was fiercely kicked against.

Despite their opposition, it said, it had observed that the Kumasi Mayor, Hon. Samuel Pyne, had “instructed the market management to proceed with the closure”.

It therefore urged the market management to reconsider this decision and consider its detrimental effects on their businesses.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini