Some traders who have been relocated from the Central and Kejetia markets in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region have threatened to vote against the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the allocation of stalls at the new Kejetia market.

Some of the traders have also threatened to picket the Jubilee House naked.

The traders, on Monday, 30 September 2019, closed their shops and protested over what they described as the lack of transparency in the allocation of the stalls in the new market.

The traders say some of their colleagues at the Central Market have been discriminated against in the allocation of the shops.

Addressing the media at a joint press conference organised by Kejetia Traders Association, Concerned Central Market Traders Association and Eleven Member Steering Committee of Kumasi Central Market, the group PRO, Andrew Kwofie, said their request that a deposit of 20 per cent of the cost of the shops be paid and the balance spread over a period has been rejected.

According to them, the KMA officials have rather ordered them to procure loans to pay for the shops in the new market at a high interest rate.  

Mr Kwofie also described as harsh and oppressive, the demand by the KMA for Central Market traders to pay for the temporary place of occupation with bank loans.

He noted that all these problems of allocation among other things are being created by the government and the KMA.

It is an attempt by the government and the KMA, he alleged, to punish over 1,500 members of Kejetia Traders Association and over 8,000 Central Market traders.

He, therefore, on behalf of the traders, gave the KMA a seven-day ultimatum to ensure that their demands are met or face their wrath.