Traders at the Kojokrom Market in the Essikado-Ketan Constituency under the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) have appealed to the city authorities to ensure that urgent measures are put in place to curtail the flooding situation in the market.
The traders said the market often got flooded even with the slightest rains, destroying goods in their shops and leaving them stranded.
The situation, they said, was having a negative toll on their businesses, especially in the period of economic hardships.
The traders, who spoke with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, said the floods often made them loose their wares and caused them financial losses.
Maame Adjoa Esuon, one of the affected traders, expressed fear over the perennial flooding in the market, leading to loss of wares and other valuable items.
She indicated that those at the back part of the market from the main entrance and close to the main lorry station and its surroundings were the worst affected.
Most of the affected traders who spoke to the GNA attributed the flood menace to a gutter that run behind the market which had not been constructed.
At the main wooden bridge joining the market from the lorry station, a footwear dealer who gave her name as Auntie Araba lamented that her shop which was near the gutter got flooded with her wares worth sums of money getting swept away.
Maame Asaba, a trader near the rail line fence wall, the waters had washed away many of her valuables and called on the Assembly to visit the area and address the challenge.
A trader, who sells groundnut and cereals, also said her container shop got filled with floodwater after a few hours of heavy rains, which destroyed her goods and other personal belongings.
After touring the market, it was uncovered that the drain had been engulfed with heaps of rubbish, blocking the free flow of the waters while stench emanated from them as floods swept away garbage and debris.
However, Nana Ekua Praba, Deputy Market Queen of the market, commended the efforts of the City Authority and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr Joe Ghartey for their continuous support rendered to them at the Market.
She, therefore, pleaded with them to make it a priority to construct the gutter in question to control the water and avert the troubles it posed to the traders.
Mr Napoleon Agyemang, Assembly Member for the Kojokrom Electoral Area, where the market is situated, bemoaned the unwillingness of some hawkers to sell in the market and warned that the Assembly would soon clamp on them.
He also promised to champion the plea of the traders for the construction of the gutters and ensure that the entire drainage system around the market was dealt with.
