Use The Tolls Collected From Us To Develop Anyaa Market--Traders Tell Ga Central Municipal Assembly

Investigations conducted into the commercial operational activities of the Anyaa Market in the Ga Central Municipality of the Greater Accra Ghana have exposed the teething challenges facing the thousands of traders in the market.

The traders in Anyaa Market in the Ga Central Municipal Assembly complained bitterly of insecurity and unaccountability of the numerous tolls they have paid to the officials of the Ga Central Municipal Assembly.

According to traders, the tolls for market men and women are common in Ghana adding that there are many markets in Accra that have taken tolls, ranging from one Ghana cedi (GHC1.00) to five Ghana cedis (GHC5.00). 

They pointed out tha toll is a good initiative because its main purpose is to fund projects such as building toilet facilities, installing boreholes, hiring watchmen, and many others in the market for the convenience of traders and customers.

According to them, the goal of this investigative piece is to shed light on how tolls obtained from the markets are used. It also aims to expose officials who misuse the tolls they collected.

The complained from the traders of no seeing the development projects they are using the money corrected them as tolls have informed the decision of a group calling itself Concerned Anyaa Market Watchdog Committee had decided to visit the Anyaa market to unearth the actual facts on the ground pertaining to the collection of market tolls. 

According to the members of the group just

just after we arrived at the market, we gently approached a trader and asked her if she could grant us an interview; she agreed. 

The group noted that "We asked her how much they take for the tolls and what those monies were used for."

 According to the trader, "those operating wholesale and retail stores pay five Ghana cedis (5.00) while the petty traders like her pay two Ghana cedis (2.00) daily," and as to how the monies were utilized, she had no idea; all that she knew was that the monies were taken to the Ga Central Municipal Assembly.

"We also went further and randomly interviewed other traders, and what we deduced from all those interviews were the rampant cases of theft in the market," they noted.

 There have been numerous times when thieves break into shops in the night to loot everything they set eyes on. 

According to the traders, they have been complaining to the authorities about the need to employ security to man the market in order to curb this menace, but to no avail.