Traders at the Kumasi Central Market (KCM) have accused the John Mahama government of discrimination in the manner in which it treats victims of market fires.
They said while the government set up a GH�2 million fund for market fire victims in Accra shortly after the fire incidents, nothing was done for them after the last but one fire at the KCM last December.
The only thing they got, they said, was a single visit from the then Mayor of Kumasi, Samuel Sarpong, to familiarise himself with the situation, and ended up commiserating with the victims.
They said the recent fire outbreaks at the market have left them destitute � their wares have been destroyed, leaving them with no clear means of repaying their debts.
Never, they said, has the government ever considered the fact that they need support to bounce back.
They said it therefore came as a surprise when they heard that President John Dramani Mahama, after visiting one of the burnt markets in Accra, had directed that a fund be set up for the victims.
The women made their feelings known during an interaction they had with the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kwasi Opong-Fosu.
Mr Opong-Fosu had led the Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana, Irene Vida Galla, and some Brazilian contractors to show key stakeholders, including KCM queens, the conceptual design of a planned redevelopment of the market, in Kumasi.
A market queen, Abena Tiaa, on behalf of the other market queens, recounted that all appeals for support yielded no positive results.
She said the victims had to go for bank loans to do a reconstruction of the gutted portions of the market just so they could remain in business. �We are still struggling to pay off those loans even as we speak,� she added.
Never, Abena Tiaa said, had anybody ever thought of supporting them for all the countless times that fire had swept through the market, adding that it therefore came as a surprise that government had swiftly moved to provide such help to traders in Accra.
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