The Accra Metropolitan Assembly has sounded the alarm over “rising health risks” at the city’s Agbogbloshie Yam Market, where traders continue to sell food along open drains and trash-filled walkways despite months of warnings and cleanup exercises.

During a surprise raid, officers from the Clean Ghana Task Force arrested 12 traders accused of flouting sanitation directives.

Director of the campaign, Florence Kuukyi, said the exercise was part of a wider drive to restore discipline and cleanliness across Accra’s markets.

“We’ve already arrested about twelve people, and for those we couldn’t arrest, we’ve confiscated their wares. We know they’ll return for them. About 85% of Ghanaians eat from the streets, and we all consume this food, which is not the best,” she tells JoyNews.

Littered with decaying food scraps, pepper remnants, and refuse forming the very base of the trading area, authorities described the market as a “recipe for disaster”

The enforcement drive comes as Ghana battles growing waste management challenges in its urban centres, where poor sanitation remains a persistent public health threat.

The AMA says the sweeps will continue across Accra until full compliance with sanitation by-laws is achieved.

Officials also warned repeat offenders could face prosecution.