Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has told the Mayor of Kumasi, Richard Ofori-Agyeman Boadi, to apply the law in dealing with traders operating illegally on pavements and roadsides in the Adum area, rather than the threat to beat them.
Franklin Cidjoe stated that lashing the errant hawkers is an old tactic that Ghanaians rejected.
“The Kumasi Mayor should only be threatening to use the law to remove persons trading on pavements, not physically abusing them.
“The mayor should immediately walk back and pledge to honour the law. These types of brute talk and carefree behaviour were yesterday’s tactics we abhorred and chased some folks away from government,” he wrote on Facebook.
Mr Ofori-Agyeman Boadi, had issued a stern two-week ultimatum to traders operating illegally on pavements and roadsides in the Adum area, warning that failure to comply would result in harsh penalties, including public lashings.
Addressing the press in Kumasi on Monday, April 14, Mr. Boadi announced that starting Wednesday, April 16, 2025, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) will commence a rigorous decongestion operation to restore order within the city’s central business district.
He emphasised that traders who continue to sell on pavements after the deadline will be dealt with severely.
“I have my own democratic military style, which I will be implementing. When we say leave this space and you don’t leave this space, and I get there, and you’re not lucky and my boys are with me, there and then, we will beat you,” the Mayor stated.
The KMA boss explained that previous methods, such as confiscating goods and making arrests, have not yielded lasting results, as traders frequently return to the same unauthorised spots.
Later, he said that the traders had started heeding the warning to vacate the pavements. To that end, he said the threat to lash them will not happen because of compliance with the directive
“I believe we won’t get there because some of them have started complying,” he said on Joy News on Tuesday, April 15.
