There have always been stories on the activities of the Italian Mafia and other underworld groups elsewhere, exacting monies from shop keepers and business owners as �protection fee�.
This may seem very far from us in Ghana but traders at the Tip-Toe lane, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, who mostly deal in mobile phones and other electrical gadgets, have accused the Ayawaso Sub-Metro Chief, Victor Quarshie Adornu, of running a Mafia-like organization by extorting monies from them.
According to some mobile phone dealers who were interviewed in the studios of NeatFM, various groups of people come around each day to take monies from them. They told Adakabre, the host of Me Man Nti, that failure to pay these monies could result in harassment and a total eviction from the streets.
It was revealed during the discussion that, an amount of GHc 200 was allegedly demanded by Mr. Adornu, through the Assembly Man of Ayawaso East Electoral Area, Moses Abor. The monies were to secure traders of their spots on the streets or faced displacement.
Mr. Abor has however corroborated the claim of the traders but insisted that all the monies collected went to the Ayawasio Sub-Metro chief.
Nonetheless, he was astonished as to the reasons assigned to the demolishing because the monies which were paid by the traders were to ensure their stay at the Tip-Toe lane.
These revelations were made after a demolishing exercise undertaken by a joint police cum personnel of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) on perhaps the busiest street market in the capital. Stores and containers which were on pedestrian walk ways and unapproved spots were pulled down on Tuesday during the exercise.
But Mr. Victor Quarshie Adornu denies all the allegations made against him. According to him, the exercise was done simply to decongest the street for free vehicular and pedestrian movement.
However, the Ayawaso East Assembly Man challenged the rationale behind decongesting a cul-de-sac, when the main reason for the heavy traffic in that area is the nearby Nsawam Station.
He warned the Sub-Metro Chief of serious consequences if the grapevine reports that he is evicting Ghanaians from the pedestrian walk ways only to hand it over to some Nigerian businessmen turns out to be true.
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