Oguaa Mayor sets record straight on Kotokuraba Market Project

Mr Anthony Egyir Aikins, Mayor of Cape Coast, has said that the new Kotokuraba Market Project, when completed, will be an �imposing edifice� that the people of the Metropolis would be glad to behold. He said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government would never forsake the people of Cape Coast and that the Cape Coast stadium promised by the government would also be built in addition to other development projects to give the area a facelift to befit its status as a tourism destination site. At a press conference on Tuesday to debunk rumours and allegations leveled against the NDC over the market project by the Central Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) about two weeks ago, the Mayor said the NDC administration �would bring hope to the people of Cape Coast soon�. Among the allegations leveled by the NPP was that they left a �whooping four million US dollars� each for the reconstruction of three market projects namely, Mankessim, Bawjiase and the Kotokuraba markets; and bemoaned the �lackadaisical� manner with which work on the Oguaa Kotokuraba Market Project was being carried out. They also expressed disappointment at the lack of seriousness with which the Atta Mills-led Government had addressed developmental issues in the Central Region. Mr Aikins said the NPP had rather failed the people of Cape Coast saying that during its tenure of eight years it could not achieve any meaningful development in Cape Coast. He recalled plans made for the rehabilitation of the Kotokuraba market in 1997 which he alleged was thwarted when Madam Christine Churcher, led the NPP to incite some market women and traders to vehemently protest against it, demanding the construction of a new market instead. He expressed surprise that when the NPP assumed reins of Government in 2000, it did nothing about the market only to turn round to accuse the NDC of playing with the project. Concerning the NPP�s claim that it left behind US$4million for the construction of the market, the MCE said it was a total lie and challenged them to come out within a week to tell the world where the money was lodged, asking why it did not start the project with the said amount but rather left it behind. Mr Aikins said he went to China sign a �Project Implementation Agreement� and not a contract as the NPP was alleging and that it was not true that traders at the Kotoka, an adjoining market to Kotokuraba, were forced to relocate to places that were not suitable and convenient for trading activities. He said the traders were actively involved in the selection of the relocation sites where they willingly moved to because the Assembly engaged them in useful deliberations. Mr Aikins said even though work on the project was slow it was part of the local content of the agreement that the site was developed to accommodate the market women to pave way for the commencement of the main project. He said he was unhappy that the NPP in the Region had failed to recognize the numerous projects sprawling across the Central Region and called on its Parliamentary candidates to render an unreserved apology to Cape Coasters for peddling falsehood. He said after eight long years of despair and abandonment by the NPP, the people of Oguaa now know the difference between the NPP and the NDC, particularly on commitment to duty and the provision of services and projects to help develop the society.