Beggars and Destitutes Take Over Cleared Areas

When the authorities of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assemble (KMA) took a bold step to clear the commercial (business) district of the metropolis of hawkers, many were those who thought that for once the exercise would be very successful. The stiff resistance initially put up by the reluctant traders gradually subsided with the heavy pretence of the military, the police and some guards of the KMA. No sooner had the traders left than beggars and destitutes took over the places where the traders reluctantly abandoned. Apparently, as a result of their ailing condition, the security personnel do not harass them and this has gingered up others to join in the begging spree. Meanwhile traders who were sacked from the commercial nerve of the city have adopted new tactics to outwit the security personnel mandated to ensure sanity in the business district. Their modus operandi among others is that some of them go to the area as early as four o�clock in the morning and engage in their business until around half past six when the security personnel arrive to maintain law and order. The recalcitrant ones however have adopted a hide and-seek method to engage in their business in the cleared areas. They all come in their numbers around four o�clock in the evening and engage in their brisk business. When the Crusading Guide newspaper talked to some of the traders, they said with the present economic hardships, they could not afford fully complying with the KMA authorities since they found it extremely difficult to make ends meet.