KMA To NDC: Wontumi Not Chasing Kejetia Shops

THE KUMASI Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has debunked reports that the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka ‘Wontumi’, is grabbing shops at the newly-constructed Kejetia Market.

According to the Assembly, “Wontumi has not written, or verbally requested, KMA to provide him with the allocation of shops”. It further stressed that the NPP chairman had not been part of the processes of the allocation of shops at Kejetia.

It has, therefore admonished the public, especially residents of Kumasi and traders at Kejetia Market, to treat the NDC allegations with the greatest contempt.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by Abass Nurudeen, the party’s Ashanti Regional Communications Officer, had insisted that Wontumi was chasing shops at the Kejetia Market Project.

At a press conference here on Monday, Nurudeen and his deputy, Asafo Adjei, issued statements that suggested that the allocation of shops at the new market was not being done properly by the assembly.

But the KMA in a press release, signed by Henrietta Afia Konadu Aboagye, the KMA PRO, said the NDC’s wild allegations had no basis, and should be treated with contempt.

She added that the KMA had not signed any agreement that suggested that the shops in question would be owned permanently by the traders.

The statement further denied reports that KMA was putting immense pressure on traders to deal with Fidelity Bank, and explained that traders had the right to choose any bank of their choice to transact business with.

According to the statement, various stakeholders in the Kejetia Market Project, including traditional authorities, trade unions, government agencies and others, were consulted in the registration, exhibition and validation of the traders, as well as the allocation of shops.

It said the cost of the shops ranged from GH¢7,800 to GH¢41,560 and that traders had the liberty to choose which one they could afford. Concluding, the statement said the KMA was ready to address issues about the cost of the shops.