According to Dr Letsa, due to the speed with which the allocation was done in the previous administration, the stores which were meant for market women had found their way to persons who did not qualify to have them.

The Ho Market Sellers Association recently issued a statement alleging that the assembly had allocated the stores to government workers and people who were not trading at the market.

The women had also alleged that the warehouses, which were initially built for corn and groundnut sellers, were not given to them.

Working visit

At a meeting with officials in charge of the Ghana Urban Management Pilot Project (GUMPP) in Ho during a visit by the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Madam Hajia Alima Mahama, Dr Letsa indicated that his office had received complaints from market women and shop owners recently concerning the unfair allocations.

He indicated that the review process would ensure that market women who had been displaced as a result of the construction of the Central Market were on the priority list before any new applicant would be considered.

Hajia Mahama supported the move to review the allocation for fairness, saying; ‘I will come back to look at the process.’

The visit enabled the minister to familiarise herself with the GUMP project which comprised the Ho Central Market, a landfill site at Akrofu and a modern abattoir at Sokode.

The landfill and the abattoir have been completed, while the market is about 80 per cent complete. The engineers working at the market say they are optimistic that the job would be completed by the end of March.

Minister impressed

Hajia Mahama said she was impressed with the level of work done on the project and expressed the hope that the donors would consider the second phase.

She charged the officials to get a management and maintenance plan for the various projects within a week.

“If you need assistance in terms of consultants and technical help, we can do that but the initiative must be from you,” she indicated  and added that the projects could raise a lot of revenue for the assembly if managed well.

The Kumasi, Tamale, Sekondi-Takoradi metropolises and Ho municipal are the beneficiaries of the GUMP project which was started five years ago.

The Agence France de Development (AFD) is supporting the project with 40 million euros and a grant of 500,000 euros for the successful implementation of all the GUMP projects in the selected areas.