The Kumasi Traditional Council has pledged its support for the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) boss in a decongestion row which has led to some traders calling for his dismissal.

The traders claim Osei Assibey Antwi is being selective in the decongestion exercise and are threatening to proceed on a protest march if he is not removed.

 A group calling itself Concerned New Patriotic Party (NPP) Youth Traders Association is spearheading agitations.

In a press release, President of the Association, Osei Mensah, said, “we are not happy about the Mayor’s approach to relocating traders from the central business district to the various market centres without putting proper measures in place.”

The Regional Security Council recently teamed up with the KMA to intensify its move to get traders off unauthorised trading points in the Ashanti Region capital, Kumasi.

The exercise has angered some of the traders who have refused to occupy designated market centres.

Provisions have been made for the traders at the Race Course, Abinkyi and other satellite markets but they have abandoned them to trade on pavements at the city centre.

Decongestion programmes in Kumasi have seen little or no success largely due to the political card the traders exploit.

But a member of the Kumasi Traditional Council and Chief of Bantama, Baffour Amankwatia VI, told Luv News Kumasi is for the Asantehene who supported the move to clear traders off the streets.

He was emphatic in an interview with Luv News’ Nana Asenso Mensah that lawlessness by some of the traders will not be tolerated.

“Kumasi belongs to Otumfour, it doesn’t belong to anybody...if Nananom say something, it means it is Otumfour who is speaking... Kumasi was full of trees, Kumasi was organised, and Kumasi was nice.”

“So should we sit down and let people tell us what they want to do? No! we can’t sit down and allow that sort of lawlessness to prevail". So, we are appealing to all of them to cooperate with the Mayor so that we can make Kumasi a better place for all of us,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Kumasi Mayor says the Assembly will not be intimidated.

“If they want to go on demonstration because the KMA is taking them off the pavements, then I will advise them to stop because we are not going to relent.

"We’ve dialogued with them for a very long time. We have eight markets that they can sit and sell. The pavement, on which they want to sit and sell, is the same pavement the pedestrians have to use,” he explained.