Some news vendors at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra are currently stranded as personnel of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) have cleared their newsstands.
The exercise, undertaken by the Rapid Response Unit of the AMA, took place on Tuesday, during which six of the newsstands were cleared by personnel of the unit.
Recounting the incident, the President of the News Vendors Association, Mr Stephen Aegon, told the Daily Graphic that it was not the first time that the AMA had cleared their structures, leaving them stranded.
According to him, a similar exercise was carried out by personnel of the assembly in December, last year but the structures were released to them after they had pleaded with the officials at the Rapid Response Unit located at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
He further alleged that they had to part with GH�500 to some personnel there before the structures were released to them.
�That is why I don�t understand that just two weeks after, the AMA has come to clear our structures again,� he stated.
When contacted, the officer in charge of the Rapid Response Unit, Mr Paa Lamptey, stated that the AMA did not have any problem with vendors selling newspapers.
He explained that the newsstands measuring about four feet wide took virtually all the space meant for pedestrians around the Ghana Commercial Bank/Pedestrian Mall sidewalk, since that pavement was only six feet.
He said aside that inconvenience, �we also have reports that the news vendors connive with traders to sell their wares by them, thereby creating more congestion on the already narrow walkway.
�We also observed that some pedestrians stand by these newsstands to read the day�s news, leaving no space for others to freely move, hence our decision to clear the structures.�
Mr Lamptey stated that the AMA had had discussions with the news vendors to reduce the size of the newsstands but they had failed to comply, hence its exercise, adding that as long as the vendors used those types of newsstands, � we will not allow them to operate on the walkway�.
Currently, some of the affected news vendors have displayed the newspapers on the metal rails on the fence along the pedestrian walkway.
Mr Lamptey said that was acceptable to the AMA �as long as their activities do not impede movement, we are comfortable with it�.
�It is not only the news vendors that have been affected by this exercise; we are also clearing those selling Holy Bibles, story books, magazines, among others whose structures do not comply with the requirement of the AMA.�
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