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This comes after an Accra Magistrate court ordered 10 yam sellers at the Agbogbloshie market to sign a bond of good behaviour and not to sell on the pathway.
They are Frank Telekpon, Marboriwe Ntekellama, Awiase Mmolebe, Wisdom Bindiche, Ebenezer Benkom, Yindo Mohammed, Kiki Majaba, Bepa Yayen, Seth Ngmagna and Nakulin Elija.
The yam sellers who pleaded guilty to the charge of obstructing a public pathway contrary to section 10 of the 2017 AMA Public Markets bye-laws will in breach of the bond serve a minimum of not less than three months imprisonment with hard labour.
The La Magistrate Court also surcharged the yam sellers to pay an amount of GH¢1000 to the AMA for the expenses incurred in transporting the yams from the market.
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the task force at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) arrested some twenty -three (23) traders at the Agbogbloshie market for selling foodstuff on bare floors and under unhygienic conditions.
Prosecution led by the Public Health Department of the AMA narrated that the yam sellers were part of 20 traders arrested at the Agbogbloshie market on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, by the AMA and the police during an enforcement exercise for displaying their wares for sale on a road and bare floor.
From foodstuffs overexposed to sunlight to displaying food items on the streets near choked gutters, the officials were incensed by the level of disregard for hygiene standards.
Expressing her disappointment in the traders on their disregard for the Assembly's bylaws on sanitation, the Mayor of Accra, Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey, who joined the team ordered the immediate removal of traders selling on streets into the markets where they have shed.
The AMA boss reiterated that some of the traders after all the education and engagements over the years against displaying their goods on the bare ground and at unauthorized places continued to go contrary adding that the Assembly would not show any mercy in dealing with such offenders anymore hence the arrest.
"We are going to enforce the bye-laws to the latter. Traders selling behind the Agbogbloshie market dwarf wall will not be spared, anyone caught will be arrested, fined, or sent to court...The traders have already been educated not to display their foodstuff on the bare ground for sale but the practice persists. We will enforce the law and ensure that they leave the mandated 3 feet gap between the ground and their foodstuff," she said.
The mayor added that the authorities would not spare anyone who is found guilty because enough education has been given to discourage this activity.