The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly says it is recovering the cost of decongesting the city with proceeds from court fines on recalcitrant traders. Checks indicate the assembly has redeemed 75 per cent of the cost from the fines. A member of the Decongestion Committee, Atta Boafo, is upbeat KMA will succeed this time round in instilling sanity in the city. Some observers have doubted the ability of the KMA to sustain its effort to rid the Central Business District of Kumasi of hawkers and other traders operating at unauthorized places. This is premised on the failures of previous exercises due to the high cost in maintaining the task force. Questions were raised for instance about the GH¢150,000 the assembly, under Patricia Appiagyei, spent on a similar exercise in 2008. However, KMA officials say the on-going exercise is more likely to succeed than fail because it is being carried out at a time residents and traders appreciate its importance. Mr. Atta Boafo described the three-week old exercise as the most well executed in recent times. “This is the best effort KMA has ever made in terms of similar exercises. The message we sent through the public education before the exercise sent the necessary signal to the people,” he said. On measures to sustain the exercise, he said an autonomous court has been established to try recalcitrant traders. The assembly will also recruit more City Guards to ensure hawkers are kept away from unauthorized places. By: Ohemeng Tawiah, Nhyira Fm