The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has stepped up preparations for its next major decongestion exercise, engaging key security agencies across the metropolis to ensure effective coordination and enforcement.

As part of these efforts, the Mayor of Accra, Michael Allotey, visited selected security institutions, including the Ghana Post Office headquarters, to strengthen collaboration and ensure coordinated enforcement during the exercise.

According to the Mayor, the first phase of the decongestion exercise served as a test case, and lessons learned from that initial effort have informed improved planning.

Speaking to the media, Mayor Allotey explained the rationale behind the first phase:

“We did the first decongestion, and the first one we did was a test case for us because for the past eight years we haven't done anything like that, so once we are doing this, we have to put on a lot of human faces, and we have to create places for them when we move them, we'll take them to.”

He further highlighted measures being taken to enforce city regulations and improve market infrastructure:

“We brought the famous red line, which was all over the place. The red line is still there. What we are doing now, we are going to enforce; we are going to deepen out the red lines again, we are going to enforce that they will go back to the red lines, and we are building some of the markets too.

We are doing Salaga Market, a couple of the markets, and President Mahama, luckily, has brought the 24 night markets, and we have started some of them, so now we have the grounds to say that if we move them, we have where to take them.”

On community engagement, the Mayor emphasised the importance of educating traders before enforcement:

“This time, by the end of the month, that’s just what we are going to do. You see the difference. What’s new is that I've engaged the women enough, I have educated them enough, I have spoken to them enough, so this time the woman knows that where they are is wrong and I'm not after them; I'm just trying to let them know that, listen, we are for you, you voted for us to make your lives better, and we are here to do that for you.”