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THE MULTI-BILLION Pedestrian Shopping Mall located at the Nkrumah Circle popularly known as the Odawna market built under former President John Agyekum Kufuor�s administration to accommodate hawkers and ease tension from the capital city has been turned into a brothel and a drug trafficking ghetto at night. Currently, part of the facility is gradually becoming a �white elephant� as traders have abandoned the stalls and taken to the streets and pavements to sell all kinds of wares. The Daily Heritage has learnt that the traders most of who are wives of �big men� and politicians abandoned the facility after securing the sheds some years ago because they already owned established markets at Makola, Okaishie, Agbogbloshie, Kaneshie and other parts of the city. According to the leadership of the Odawna market, more than half of the sheds are still not occupied in the wake of cries from hawkers that there is no place to settle to sell their wares. Speaking to Daily Heritage, the Chief Security Officer at the market, Major Zulou Grigory said the police and other security agencies manning the area have been placed on guard to prevent criminals from assessing the place. He added that his outfit has arrested more than 1,000 drug peddlers and commercial sex workers in the area since the construction of the market with some being convicted into prison custody, while others are facing trials in drug related issues. �Though the market is being locked up on daily basis, our investigations have revealed that some criminals pay huge amounts of money to the private security men on duty at night who open the place to aid their activities,� he stated. Mr. Grigory said due to the development over 50 private security personnel have been sacked, but the canker still exists. Major Zulou revealed that the market has been divided into two parts-Togo and Tuobodom. The Togo aspect of the market is fully occupied while the other part is virtually empty inviting sex workers and other criminals as a resting place during the day and night. On his part, the chairman of the Odawna Market Association, Nana Tawiah asserted that the claims that all the sheds have been sold are mere fabrications and excuses by hawkers to sell on the street. �I have been selling in this part of the market for the past three years, but have restrained myself from joining the wagon of hawkers on the street. It is obvious that any new market takes some time before assuming its brisk feature,� he stated. He said some traders who own sheds at the market has vowed to make the shopping mall turn into a �white elephant.� Another trader who sells clothes, Olivia Ahavor said the motive of the market has not been executed because the place was meant for the ordinary hawkers who were sacked from Novotel markets, but were not given the opportunity to acquire the sheds. She said traders have abandoned the Tuobodom part of the market because it lies between a public toilet and a refuse dump which puts people off from assessing the other part and called on the government to relocate the refuse dump to attract traders and customers.