According to the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP Osabarima Oware Asare Pinkro III,) the police had the duty to enforce and maintain law and order in the country and so it would act to ensure that traffic regulations in the city were adhered to.

DCOP Asare-Pinkro gave the undertaking when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, in the company of officials from the assembly, called on him in his office.

He said the police would cooperate with the assembly to prevent traders from selling on pavements in the city and from putting their lives in danger.

Decongestion

Explaining the reason for the visit, Mr Sowah said the assembly needed the assistance of the police to help it clear the streets in the city of traders and porters who litter pedestrian walkways.

He said the filth they generated from their activities was contributing to the spread of diseases as well as incessant vehicular knock-downs which sometimes led to loss of lives.

According to him, the activities of traders and their haphazard settlements were impeding the cleanliness and progress of the metropolis.

“President Akuffo Addo’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa can only be achieved if relevant stakeholders, including the police, work conscientiously with the assembly,” he said.

He cited the confusion created by commercial drivers in front of Parliament House and the offices of the Accra Regional Police Command, who use those places as lorry stations, as a case in point of the disorderly conduct that must be corrected.

The law

The AMA Chief Executive said traders who sold on pavements breached the Legislative Instrument (L.I) 2180 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 which states that, “a person shall not sell, display, offer for sale or deliver pursuant to a sale, goods on or alongside a road.”

It further states that “a person shall not sell within 30 metres of a railway level crossing or under a road traffic sign denoting a blind corner.”

Under the circumstance, he said, it was incumbent on the police, to enforce the law to the letter and prosecute offenders to serve as deterrent to others.

He urged the media also to collaborate with the assembly in its drive to sensitise the public to desist from trading at unauthorised places.