A session of the pavement invaded by traders

 Dear Editor,

 It is common knowledge that some traders across the various cities in Ghana use the pavements meant for pedestrians to sell their wares and Tema, the ‘model city’ of Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is gradually losing its shine to this canker.

Selling on pavements has become a common practice at Tema Community One. The activities of these hawkers generate filth, cause human traffic, choke drains as well as cause vehicu­lar congestion.

The situation is getting worse by the day following the inability of the Tema Municipal Assembly’s Task Force to live up to the task by clearing these hawkers.

These traders, mostly small-scale traders, set up their temporary shops on the pavements in order to sell their goods or render their services to passers-by. They sell a variety of goods including vegetables, fruits, household items, clothes and shoes.

While this practice provides a means of livelihood for people who would otherwise be unemployed, it poses numerous challenges of which the traders don’t seem to bother. It obstructs pedestrian movement and often causes congestion on the streets. The presence of these traders on the pavements creates a safe­ty hazard for both the traders and pedestrians alike, as they often have to contend with vehicles and motor­cycles racing along the streets. The sanitary conditions of the market­places on pavements are often poor, which pose a health risk for both the traders and the consumers. Garbage and waste is often left uncollected, and this creates an unsanitary envi­ronment with the potential of spread­ing diseases.

In an interview with some traders, their reason for trading on the pave­ment and the roads is due to lack of market space as majority of Ghana­ians prefer to buy from the road side to the established markets. Some of these vendors on the pavements and roads said they make profit selling by the road side compared with the established markets.

A waakye seller Hajia Mariam said she sold her food early in the morning to those going to work along the road side.

Despite these challenges, the prac­tice of traders selling on the pave­ments persists because, it provides an affordable option for many consumers who cannot afford to buy goods at the established markets like the Malls and the Shoprite. However, there is the need for the government to intervene and manage this informal trading sector for the safety and well-being of both the traders and the public.

Eva Boamah

Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ)