The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), in collaboration with the Korle Klottey, La-Dadekotopon, Ayawaso Central, Ayawaso East, and Ablekuma Central Municipal Assemblies, has announced a major decongestion exercise in the capital beginning Sunday, February 1.

Hawkers and traders have been directed to vacate the streets and operate behind the Red Line by close of day, Saturday, January 31.

The directive was issued on Thursday, January 22, during a joint press conference and stakeholder engagement attended by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, members of the Metro Security Council, market leaders, trader groups, and transport operators.

Speaking at the press conference, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo, said the engagement was meant to send “a clear and consistent message that the operation was not intended to deprive any trader, but to ensure adherence to the Red Line.”

She appealed to the media to report the exercise accurately and avoid headlines that could suggest city authorities were driving traders away, saying that the assemblies’ position was simply that “trading must remain behind the designated boundaries.”

The Minister also addressed enforcement concerns, noting that “actions in the past had often attracted appeals for leniency,” but added that this time, authorities were pleading for cooperation.

She urged market leaders, queen mothers, and association heads present to engage their members after the meeting and ensure compliance before the February 1 commencement date.

Clarifying a previous misinterpretation of the one-month grace period, she explained that the requirement was “not for traders to finish selling their goods within a month, but to keep within the Red Line and do the needful ahead of the operation.”

The Mayor of Accra, Michael Kpakpo Allotey, in his address, expressed frustration with repeated cycles of engagement followed by a return to street trading and encroachment.

He cautioned drivers and transport operators against taking advantage of cleared spaces, warning that “indiscriminate parking and the conversion of cleared areas into new stations would be met with strict sanctions.”

Other speakers, including the Chief Executives of Korle Klottey, La-Dadekotopon, Ayawaso Central, and Ablekuma Central Municipal Assemblies, who addressed the gathering in various local languages, also endorsed the exercise and reiterated appeals for cooperation.

Speaking on behalf of market leadership, the President of the Greater Accra Market Association, Naa Afrowaa Needjan, said the message from the assemblies was “not new” and urged traders to take the directive seriously, describing cleanliness as critical since markets sell both edible and non-edible items.

She noted that most traders had space within the markets and argued that street congestion was worsened by practices that turned market spaces into storage and wholesale points, sometimes outside ticketing and enforcement hours.

The market leader cited recent incidents as a reminder of the risks associated with roadside trading and urged traders “not to exchange their lives for daily sales,” noting that, unlike earlier decongestion exercises where everyone might have been removed, the current approach “provides an opportunity for traders to continue working behind the Red Line.”