By Elizabeth PUNSU, Kumasi
Management of the Kumasi City Market at Kejetia has been directed to step aside, following allegations of corruption and concerns over sanitation, utility bills and other general services. An interim management committee has been appointed to take over operations.
The interim management committee – chaired by Prince Ofori Atta, with Amoah Prince Nyarko as Operations Manager and Nana Prempeh Amankwaa overseeing security – has been tasked to facilitate investigations into the allegations to ascertain the veracity of the claims.
In a press release signed by the Ashanti Regional Minister Dr. Frank Amoakohene, the decision came after several meetings were held between himself, the management of Kumasi City Market Limited (Kejetia) and Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) at the Regional Coordinating Council.
According to the statement, the Regional Coordinating Council has received a number of petitions from traders and other stakeholders on issues concerning management of the market.
“The Regional Coordinating Council has decided that the current management of KCM should step aside to allow for the establishment of an Intern Management Committee. This decision is aimed at facilitating an investigation into the allegations to ascertain the veracity of the claims,” Dr. Amoakohene said in the statement.
The minister further directed management members to make available all necessary documents within their custody to assist the interim committee to carry out this exercise as mandated.
Brief background
There have also been some publications by the Business & Financial Times (B&FT) where some leaderships of the trader unions have expressed certain sentiments, especially with regards to the utility bills and metring project at the facility.
In one of the publications, Public Relations Officer – Kumasi City Market Traders Union (KCMTU), Emmanuel Kwarteng, who was not so enthused about the bills given to members, called for an urgent completion of the metring project to help ease the plight of members.
He has, therefore, expressed satisfaction at the decision of the Regional Minister for management to step aside as investigation goes into the allegations.
KCML, over the years, have been struggling with huge debts owed to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) with the latest being GH₵1.6million which plunged the market into a three-day darkness after power to the market was cut off one weekend.
In reaction to the story published, Managing Director of Tanja Engineering Works Ltd., David Bruce-Appiah, who is in charge of the metring project at the Kejetia Market, accused the Managing Director of Kumasi City Markets Ltd. (KCML), Edmund Kofi Duffour Addae, of deliberately obstructing the installation of personal electricity metres for traders at Kejetia Market for personal financial gain.
Mr. Bruce-Appiah alleged that the KCML MD and his accountant benefit from collecting electricity bills from traders, which is why they have refused to release funds for the continuation of metre installations.
