After several weeks of legal tussle between some kotokuraba traders and the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) over the demolition of the market, the exercise was on Friday midnight carried out successfully.

It was originally scheduled for Wednesday October 1, but was halted by an interlocutory injunction from a Cape Coast High Court.

The demolition will pave the way for the construction of the much awaited ultra-modern market, one of the projects initiated by the late President Mills.

The Assembly had constructed temporary stores and sheds for the traders at the Kotoka Market and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation area and as of Friday evening almost all traders had vacated the old structure.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) got to the market at 0900hrs on Saturday morning, a grader had demolished what used to be the busiest and biggest market centre in the Metropolis.

The GNA observed that the area had been cordoned off while the Police were present to ensure the smooth execution of the exercise.

A section of the John Atta Mills Street and others leading into the market and its surrounding areas had been blocked.

Some residents including children took advantage of the exercise to loot wood, iron rods and cement blocks while some traders stood from afar to watch in awe what had become of the market which was once a source of income to them.

Meanwhile the eight aggrieved traders who dragged the CCMA and three other defendants to court over the exercise, on Thursday filed an application for extension of time at a Cape Coast High Court with respect to the exercise.

According to them the Assembly had not complied with some conditions it was to fulfill before the demolition exercise as ordered by the court presided over by Justice Kwasi Dapaah in its ruling on the case on Friday November 28.

The conditions were that the Assembly could demolish the market after midnight of Friday, December 19, only if it gave written alternative note assuring the applicants and the members of the Concerned Traders Association, space in the ultra-modern structure, when completed.

The Assembly was also to hand over to each of the eight applicants, keys to their cubicles in the temporary structure, in not less than seven days before the demolition exercise.

When the application for extension was mentioned in court on Friday to be granted or refused, Justice Dapaah did neither but only wondered why the case had been scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, December 23, by the registry when the court would then be on Christmas break.

He explained that the court did not necessarily order the demolition of the market on Friday, December 19 but rather only after the conditions of the judgment were fulfilled.

Justice Dapaah did not schedule any date for hearing and this disappointed the applicants and their sympathizers who had come to court with hopes of getting the demolition exercise extended.

On the Wednesday September 24, 2014, eight aggrieved Kotokuraba traders filed a motion of stay of execution against the demolishing of the market scheduled for Wednesday October 1, 2014.

In their statement of claim, the traders alleged among others, that cubicles in the temporary market were too small, made with inferior materials, too warm, not human friendly  and inconvenient for business.

In the process of the trial of the case, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, the Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area prayed the court for a possible out of court settlement which was granted but was however unable to settle the case amicably at his palace.

The matter was subsequently brought to court for full trial, at the end of which the court gave an order for the demolishing of the market based on aforementioned conditions.