A repeat of the market seizure is looming in Mafi-Kumase after the first seizure in 1980s.
The community secondary school in the town was built from the proceeds collected during the first seizure in the 1980s.
Flooding of the market is a concern.
Poor sanitation in the market area is a major factor for market seizure consideration
Mafi-Kumase market, which is arguably the biggest market in the Volta Region, has a lot of issues that need to be addressed, including the sanitation condition of the market area. Mafi-Kumase, located in the central Tongu District of the volta region, attracts a lot of traders from far and near, even from the western region. The market is allegedly the biggest generator of revenue for the district but routine attention that needed to be given to it is missing, similar to the situation that necessitated the previous seizure of the market in the 1980s.
The market, which is a weekly market on Mondays, is mainly a commodity market. However, due to stiff competition faced by wholesale buyers, the market seems to start on Saturdays because the wholesale buyers move from community to community in search of the dominant commodity traded in the district which is gari. Gari from Mafi-Kumase is the best quality any consumer would identify, but has been known outside the Volta region as ‘Anlo gari’ or ‘Ayigbe gari’, all in an attempt to mean the gari is from Volta, whereas residents of other towns and communities the Volta Region visit Mafi-Kumase to buy the Mafi-Kumase gari on wholesale.
Central Tongu District Assembly collects huge sums of tolls from the market women/men, trucks or vehicles, but has little to show for in terms of management of the market. It is for this reason the youth of the area have been considering seizing the market from the district assembly to manage themselves. To confirm the suspicion of the youth regarding the amount of money generated from the market weekly, a senior citizen of the traditional area disclosed that a seizure of the market had taken place in the 1980s and after only four (4) months of managing the market themselves and accounting to the chiefs and people of the area, they had accumulated enough funds to establish the secondary school in the area. Even though the key stakeholder, who is widely respected and appreciated in the community for his selfless support to the community, supports the idea of seizing the market, he was skeptical whether force could now be used unlike in the 1980s where the military regime encouraged citizens to protect their interest. He suggested a negotiation may be the way to go this time. Community engagement discussions revealed
Just a few weeks ago, the market was flooded heavily and one major cause was the choking of the drains around the market. The assembly man for the area, Hon. Amos Azanu later managed to get the district assembly to release their bulldozer to desilt the drains. Interesting enough, the rubbish and desilted materials removed from the drains were left by the drains for the rains to wash them back into the drains.
It has to take Mr. William Aziedu to lobby Mr. Dan Fiator to help clear and remove the rubbish and desilted materials from the site.
A new market that was started about twenty five (25) years ago is yet to be fully operational.
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