Mayor of Accra, Michael Allotey, says the solution to the city’s persistent street trading problem lies in empowering the very people often blamed for it — the market women.

According to him, past Mayors failed because they did not work directly with the traders, and he is changing that.

“I promise one thing, I’m going to work with a market woman,” the Mayor said on PM Express on Tuesday night.

“You see, today during the decongestion exercise, the market women understood that we have to fix this. It is a problem that most of the time, the Mayors don’t deal with the market women directly. But this time, I’m dealing with them.”

He believes the market women hold the key to lasting order in the city.

“They know the problem, because they are in there, and they know how to go about it. They have told me what they want me to do for them, and this is what I’m going to do for them,” he said.

As part of the new strategy, Mayor Allotey will appoint leaders from within the traders’ ranks. “Maybe I’ll pick four or five of them to be their leader,” he revealed.

“So I’m going to have a red line, which former Mayor Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye did. I’m going to have a similar red line tomorrow. So they’re going to stay behind the line, and the leaders will control them.”

But unlike the past, he insists this won’t be a symbolic gesture.

“It’s not something that’s another 9-day wonder thing,” he stressed. “It’s something that has come to stay, and I want it to stay.

"Because it’s something I want to do, such that if I’m no more the mayor, it’s one of the things I want to leave behind — for a legacy to be that when the mayor said he will clear the road, he made sure he left the road clear.”

When host Evans Mensah pointed out that Mayor Okoe Vanderpuye’s red line initiative failed to last, Mr. Allotey said he has learned from that experience.

“We need men to guide the red line. But the only thing we did at that time was we just picked the people from the market women and the market men to guide the red line.”

This time, the Mayor is going all in.

“I’m bringing over 1000 youth to run day and night,” he said. “The 24-hour economy policy, I want it to start from AMA. AMA is going to start 24-hour ticketing, clearing refuse, putting a task force in place, etc. Everything will be on 24 hours.”

He said the city will no longer sleep while lawlessness takes hold. “We’re going to work to make sure the city stays alive until morning. So, this time is not something that is like previously, no.”