Sunyani, May 27, GNA – Some traders in the Sunyani Municipality and its environs on Tuesday broke the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) control measures and stormed the shutdown Nana Bosoma market, location for the weekly Wednesday trading activities in Sunyani.
The Sunyani Municipal Assembly and its COVID-19 Taskforce a month ago closed down the market to ensure social and physical distancing among other measures against the spread of the COVID-19.
Consequently, the Assembly and the Sunyani Traditional Council (STC) created satellite markets for daily trading activities to thrive so that there would not be a Wednesday market, though that is the official market day to avoid overcrowding for the prevention of COVID-19 spread.
But during its patrol at about 0600 hours, the Taskforce saw all kinds of traders, especially foodstuff sellers who had defied the directive for the place to remain closed until further notice and were briskly doing business as if nothing was at stake.
Thus the traders had unofficially but effectively turned the Wednesday market to a Tuesday market.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, the traders gave varied explanations and interpretations to the directive regarding the closure of the Wednesday market because some said they were not aware there was no more official weekly market day in Sunyani.
Others simply said they thought the Wednesday weekly market had been shifted to Tuesday while some said they were wholesalers and distributors and had come “to just supply to the retailers and go back”.
Superintendent Haruna Alhassan, the Taskforce Commander in another interview with the GNA expressed worry and described the situation as “unacceptable” because it was drawing back progress being made by the ‘city’ authorities in preventing COVID-19 spread.
He observed though, the Sunyani Municipality has not recorded any case of COVID-19, the situation (activities of recalcitrant traders) “is serious and dangerous” because it could lead to the outbreak of the disease.
Supt. Alhassan said the Taskforce was, therefore, strengthening its strategies for even more effective operations to prevent the disobedient traders “who only think of money first instead of health” from continuing with their unlawful `activities regarding compliance with the market directives against the COVID-19.
GNA