The Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and city authorities in Kumasi are set to resume decongesting the Central Business District this week.

The exercise which began last week was halted for two days after traders defied an order to relocate from pavements and other unapproved locations for trading.

Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, however, says the exercise was suspended for further consultation as traders misunderstood the of the decongestion exercise.

Traders return 

REGSEC's deployment of personnel to assist the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to enforce the order for traders to stop selling at unapproved locations only achieved its intended purpose briefly.

Barely two days into decongestion exercise, the traders and transport operators who are the main targets returned to the approved spots in Central Business District after a brief relocation.

Some of the traders who have still not returned to the unapproved locations due to the presence of the decongestion taskforce say they will return after the taskforce move away.

Linda Agyei, a second-hand cloth dealer said: ”We can’t leave here while those who sell similar products remain here. These people are also trading on the streets as we do. If they are asking us to go to the satellite markets, they should make them go with us”.

Decongestion will continue

The Ashanti Regional Minister, however, says the exercise will continue.

He wants traders to accept to relocate to satellite markets as the operation resumes.

”We are not going to stop the process, we are going to sustain it...I can assure them,” he said.

Mr Osei Mensah says the decongestion is part of an agenda to ensure proper sanitation in the Kumasi Metropolis.