The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has warned pepper sellers at Agbogbloshie Market that they risk fines or court action if they continue to defy market directives under the Clean Ghana campaign.

This comes amid tension at Agbogbloshie Market, where the AMA task force moved in earlier today to clear sections of the market reportedly operating under unhygienic conditions.

Some traders resisted, accusing the Assembly of unfair targeting and failing to provide designated selling areas, sparking confrontations in the busy market.

The operation, which began in the early hours of Wednesday, forms part of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s renewed push to remark unauthorised structures and enhance overall sanitation as part of the broader Clean Ghana campaign.

Director for the Clean Ghana Campaign, Kuukyi Florence, told JoyNews that the Assembly will intensify enforcement and launch a full-scale crackdown on traders who fail to comply with the sanitation directives.

“In our AMA sanitation bylaw, the market sanitation bylaw, you are not supposed to display your ware below three feet. Because when you display your ware below three feet, we know that the ground is not paved. Even if it is paved, there are some microorganisms that can easily have contact with your food, and the product will be contaminated. Somebody will say even when it's contaminated, we'll go and wash, we'll cook,” Mrs. Kuukyi explained.

“It is not every microorganism that when you wash and you cook. When you go to the market, you'll see that there's a dwarf wall. Everybody is supposed to be inside the dwarf wall. Anyone in front of the dwarf wall is going contrary to the sanitation bylaws. It's just that people are refusing to change. Since people are refusing to change, we will use the law to help them change,” she added.

Mrs Kuukyi further noted that violators would be arraigned before the court.

“Being a first-time offender, you've not gone to court before. You can be fined not less than 50 penalty units, which is 600 Ghana cedis. And if you are not able to pay, you can go for remand for three months. Every day, we have our information van going around educating people that they should move from the roadside,” she said.

Traders, however, expressed frustration, saying the Assembly failed to provide alternative spaces before the enforcement exercise.

“Since we have nowhere else to trade, we've decided to sit here. We don't have the money to rent shops either. We understand that you mean well for us because this is a road and anything can happen. A driver's brake could even fail. But for the little we are trying to earn, that's why we are trading here,” one trader explained.

Abigail, a pepper trader at the market, also called for better public education:

“It's true. If they were consistent, we would find a way to cooperate. But the way they've shown up today, they should be coming around more often,” she said.