TUC Weeps for Hawkers

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday April 27, 2011.
The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has joined numerous civil society groups and other human rights organizations in condemning brutalities meted out to street hawkers in the recent exercise by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) aimed at decongesting the streets of Accra.

According to the AMA, activities of the hawkers particularly in the central business district of Accra have become a nuisance to the public and the assembly has vowed to prosecute any body found to be buying or selling on the streets.

But the TUC disagrees with the AMA and demanded “an immediate enquiry into these brutalities and the punishment of the perpetrators” by AMA guards nicknamed Rapid Response Unit in the course of the decongestion exercise.

A news release issued in Accra and signed by Kofi Asamoah, TUC General –Secretary said even though the attempts by the assembly to decongest the central business district of Accra of hawkers are laudable the haphazard manner in which the exercise is being carried out would never solve the issue of hawking.

“In the view of the TUC, assemblies must holistically tackle the congestion of our cities in a way that will ensure that the canker is dealt with once and for all rather than the piecemeal, erratic unsustainable and inhuman approach that is often adopted as and when it suits the assemblies.”

The TUC said the view of the assemblies and the government that the congestion of the cities is due to the activities of hawkers cannot be disputed “however, they must equally come to terms with the fact that it is a reflection of the absence and failure to put in place the appropriate macro-economic and explicit employment creation and business development policies needed to deal with the general question of providing decent work for the people.”

The TUC said any move towards removing hawkers from the streets must take into account, intensive education aimed at changing the attitude of street hawkers and provision of alternative livelihood.

It said it recognizes that there are no easy solutions to the challenges of hawking and urged the government to use considerable executive power to solve the problems.

“The TUC wishes to appeal to the AMA to consider the broader ramifications of the exercise and put measures in place to ensure that at the end of the day, the exercise will not create other problems that will be much more difficult to deal with than the problem of hawking on our streets.”

“Any attempt to remove hawkers from the streets without any alternative livelihood, may push them into activities that could have serious repucursions on the peace and security of the Ghanaian society as a whole.