A distraught trader has questioned whether Kumasi Mayor Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) expect traders to turn to prostitution to support their families after their shops were demolished near Baba Yara Stadium.
“Do Zuba and KMA want us to turn to prostitution to feed our children?” she asked, referring to the mayor by his popular name, King Zuba.
The woman spoke through tears after watching her shop being reduced to rubble during an ongoing decongestion exercise in the area. She said the structure was her only source of income and that its destruction had left her struggling to understand how she would provide for her children.
She told those present that she had invested her savings in the business, relying on the money generated each day to meet her family’s basic needs. The proceeds from the shop were used to buy food, pay rent and support her children’s education.
With the premises now demolished, she said she had lost the means by which she had been meeting those responsibilities. She also said no immediate alternative had been provided, leaving her and her children facing an uncertain future.
The demolition is part of a Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly operation aimed at clearing unauthorised structures around Baba Yara Stadium and the adjoining roads. The exercise is intended to reduce congestion and restore order in an area used by traders and road users.
City authorities have maintained that the operation is necessary to improve sanitation, ease the movement of traffic and reclaim public spaces. The Assembly’s position is that the structures being removed are not authorised.
For the traders affected, however, the exercise has had a direct impact on their livelihoods. They say the removal of their shops has taken away the businesses on which they depended for daily income, rather than simply clearing physical obstructions from the area.
The woman’s account reflects the concerns raised by many of those whose structures have been demolished. They have expressed outrage over the operation and are appealing to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to consider the consequences for people who have lost their places of work.
Affected traders are calling for alternative trading spaces so they can continue earning a living. They are also seeking compensation for the loss of their businesses and the money invested in them.
The exercise remains ongoing around Baba Yara Stadium and nearby roads. While the authorities say the clearance is focused on sanitation, traffic flow and the recovery of public land, traders insist that the operation has removed their means of survival without offering an immediate replacement.
