Legal Tussle Delays Work On Kotokuraba Market

The ongoing construction of the much awaited Cape Coast Kotokuraba Market Complex is expected to be completed in May next year instead of March, as originally scheduled. This, according to Mr. Samuel Wilberforce, Sub Works Committee Chairman of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA), was because the several weeks of legal tussle between some traders and the Assembly over the demolition of the old market delayed the project. He made this known when Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur inspected progress of work on the facility, prior to the durbar of chiefs and people of Cape Coast to climax the Oguaa Fetu Afahye on Saturday. Although Mr. Wilberforce did not state the percentage of work done so far, it was said to be about 85 per cent complete when the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Alhaji Collins Dauda visited the site last month. The Ghana News Agency observed that more work had been done since then. The Vice President was pleased with the extent of work done and urged workers to work assiduously to complete it on time. When completed, the market would have stores, stalls, supermarkets, a bank, parking lot, restaurants, fire department, offices, and other facilities. The demolition of the old market which was then scheduled for Wednesday October 1, 2014was halted by an interlocutory injunction from a Cape Coast High Court after eight aggrieved traders took legal action against the CCMA and three other defendants. In their statement of claim, the traders alleged among others that the cubicles in a temporary market constructed for them nearby, were small, made of inferior materials, too warm, not human friendly and inconvenient for business. After about three months of trial, the Court presided over by Mr. Justice Kwesi Dapaah, ordered the market to be demolished at midnight on Wednesday, December 19, on condition that the Assembly gave the plaintiffs, among others, an assurance of space in the new market. The Minster also inspected work on the new Ultra-modern Cape Coast Sports Stadium which was nearing completion and expressed appreciation with work done so far. The two projects were initiated by the late President John Evans Atta Mills. The Vice President was accompanied by Mr. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, Central Regional Minister, Mr. Ebo Barton Odro, and Mr. Kweku Ricketts- Hagan, Members of Parliament for Cape Coast North and South respectively, and the Mayor of Cape Coast, Mrs Priscilla Arhin Korankye.