Henry Quartey, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, has disclosed that, contrary to spare part dealers at Abossey Okai opposing the proposal to move them to Afienya, over 4,000 of the dealers appended their signatures agreeing to be moved to the proposed location.
As part of its decongestion exercise of major places in Accra, the government proposed the creation of an automobile hub at Afienya where the dealers were to be relocated.
However, a group calling itself the National Concerned Spare Parts Dealers in May 2022 threatened to demonstrate against the move.
In an interview on Face to Face on Citi TV, the Greater Accra Regional Minister told host of the show, Umaru Sanda Amadu, that he had conversations with the then chairman of the spare parts dealers association, and they bought into the relocation idea which the government was ready to build over 40,000 shops at Afienya for their relocation.
“I had a series of conversations with the then chairman of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, and interestingly, they bought into the idea. I have on my desk about 4,000 people who have appended their signatures, consenting to the fact that they were ready to move. That was when I got to know that there were about 10,000 permanent shops and about 9,000 tabletop shops, so we were going to build about 40,000 shops for them in the new location.”
He added that negotiations with the dealers broke down when they became divided into those wanting to move and those kicking against the move.
“Along the line, politics got into it. A group at Abossey Okai said they were not ready to move, and one section said they were ready to move, so they started fighting among themselves to the extent that they were incited to go on a demonstration.”
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