A number of traders at the New Kejetia market have threatened to take legal actions against management of the Kumasi City Market Limited and city authorities over another pipe burst that caused flooding at the facility on Wednesday.
Traders at the market centre recounted that the unfortunate incident had happened seven times in six months, and no proper work had been carried out to fix the problem.
According to them, the frequent pipe burst and related floods had made the business centre unfavourable for trading activities.
Intervening in the situation, management of the new Kejetia Market deployed a team of experts to fix the challenge on the said day the incident happened to prevent future occurrences. However, the affected traders have complained about vast quantities of goods destroyed.
Legal action
It is in this regard that leaders of the about seven traders’ unions are threatening legal action against the Kumasi City Market Limited and its management.
The leader of the Kejetia Petty Traders Association, Nana Prempeh, narrated: “This happened during the early hours of Wednesday, and it is the seventh occurrence. Goods have been destroyed, and traders have not been compensated. Anytime this happens, a committee is set up to investigate the issue, but nothing comes out of it”.
He revealed that the union had instructed their legal team to write to management of the facility, saying “we have decided to test the law because we know an insurance covers the facility and not traders’ wares”.
Kwame Afreh, a victim who is a fashion designer, said that incident had thrown business off gear, adding “I have been forced to turn customers away because all their materials have been stained. He appealed to Authorities to help address the challenge for their businesses to become effective.