The First Vice-Chairman of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Clement Boateng, has donated GH?40,000 to support the reconstruction of the Kantamanto market, which was devastated by a fire on January 2, 2025, around 1 a.m.

During the donation, Mr Boateng emphasized the need for financial institutions to reschedule loan payments for traders affected by the fire.

He appealed to banks and other financial bodies to reconsider repayment timelines to ease the burden on affected traders.

He also urged Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies to allocate a portion of the funds collected from traders toward insurance schemes. According to him, this would provide a safety net against similar unforeseen events in the future.

“I will take this opportunity to appeal to the banks because I know that there are a lot of people here who have taken some facilities from the bank. So, I want to make an appeal to all the financial institutions that our members have taken facility from, to please reschedule their facility arrangement, so that the time that they are supposed to repay the facility will be extended for them to have some bit of respite.

“For some time now, we have not had a well-structured market in the country. Almost all the markets we have are made by the indigenes. This is the time for the government to collaborate with the private sector so that we can build more well-structured markets for Ghanaians to trade,” The Director of Communications of GUTA, Joseph Paddy added.