The Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, has endorsed the Greater Accra Regional Minister’s ill-advised relocation of the spare parts dealers onto one of the nation’s heavily congested traffic prone areas.
They are, therefore fighting a rival group calling itself the Concerned Spare Parts Dealers, who are protesting the government’s decision to relocate them to Afienya, where residents spend hours upon hours to either get to Tema, Ashaiman or hit the Motorway in order to get to Accra.
Aside decongesting Accra, the Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has not shown any feasibility report detailing other cogent reasons why he had to relocate the Vehicle Spare Part market, which many residents in the city, have gotten used to over the years and built economic ventures, including auto mechanic shops, garages and other businesses around providing various services.
Most entry points into Accra namely; Dodowa, Kasoa, Kpone, Achimota and Afienya, have been heavily choked with traffic due to sprouting residential areas and the narrow nature of the roads, and merely ordering markets to relocate, will not solve the problem, but rather compound it, including disruption of economic activities.
However, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, feels otherwise and is adamant in his resolve, having succeeded in relocating the Onion sellers to Adjen Kotoku, despite concerns of insufficient space.
The onion traders heavily resisted the move, insisting that the new place couldn’t accommodate all of them, but the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, supervised the relocation using the rival groups in the exercise as happening in the case of spare parts dealers.
He is hiding under the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council to relocate the traders to Afienya in the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region.
Addressing the media in Accra yesterday, Thursday, May 12, 2022, the Chairman of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, Clement Boateng, said the relocation is in the interest of all, and insisted that the current place of business has outlived its usefulness, hence, the relocation to a safe and conducive environment is in order.
“The security situation is bad, sanitation is not the best. Pilfering is rising and customers can’t even get a place to park their cars to patronize our business.”
Mr Boateng, also criticized the spare parts dealers, who threatened to demonstrate if the government failed to rescind its decision to relocate them.
“It is an indictment on them. We want the whole world to know that our members are solidly behind us and are in full support of the project.”
“We cannot let this project slip out of our hands because of the selfish and parochial interest of the minority to the detriment of the majority,” Mr. Boateng said.
Clement Boateng, said “they will continue to pursue the project to its logical conclusion and want the public to know that the executives are not seeking their selfish interest as speculated by the group but to seek the interest and welfare of its members”.
“We the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association would like to set the records straight by responding to the press conference held last Tuesday 10th May, 2022 by the so-called “National Concerned Spare Parts Dealers Association” and let the public know the true state of affairs regarding the relocation of our business to a more convenient location,” he noted.
He explained that the issue of relocation has been on the drawing board for over 30 years now as their predecessors had all appealed to successive governments to relocate them.
He said the current Executives decided to continue putting the request to all the aspiring presidential candidates during the tour in the run up to the 2020
general elections.
He noted that on assumption of office as the Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, had a meeting with them and Kokompe people and pledged the government’s support by putting up an ultra-modern West Africa automotive hub which will include shops, workshops, vehicle sales centres, financial institutions, one bedroom facility, hospital, police station, supermarkets, a railway line to transport goods from Tema to the site, stadium, schools, restaurants and custom bonded
warehouse.
“The proposed areas have been Afienya, Dawenya, Pokuase and beyond. But the Regional Minister made us understand that the available land now is at Afienya.
“The message was conveyed to our members at one of the general meetings to solicit their views on the project. There was an overwhelming support from our members. However, soon after the meetings, the shop owners started to express their displeasure about the project. We have had several meetings with them and have assured them that nobody is going to be forcefully ejected from here. But they seem not to be satisfied and have decided to kick against the project,” he said.
