Director of communications for the Ghana Union of Traders Association, George Kwenning, has characterized the Makola market as an unorganized, ghetto-like structure.
He claimed that SSNIT failed to consciously try to properly organize the market.
His remarks follow the October 21, 2023, fire that destroyed the Makola Shopping Makola mall.
“As GUTA we are going to support our members but we expect the government to come to the aid of these business communities as a matter of urgency because they have lost everything.
“We will be meeting those who own the facility, we will also be meeting the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and see the way forward. Most of our markets our custom-made markets, which are built by the people themselves. We only have a few markets that have been put up by the authorities like the Kaneshie Market is well-organized,” he said on Accra-based TV3.
Kwenning added that the layout of the market impedes movement and makes it hard
“This [Makola] market was put up by SSNIT so it is not part of the custom-made markets, this is [supposed to be] a well-structured market but we can’t say that, it is like a ghetto, and for SSNIT to put up such a structure, it is unfortunate, we don’t know what informed them to put up such a structure.
“I was even surprised that the fire service was able to come here to put the fire off because there is no space. We expect SSNIT to, as a matter of urgency, relocate these people to engage in their trade and we want the government to support them to engage in their trade,” he added.