Ama Daaku, a communications team member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called on the Kumasi Mayor, Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi, to apologise for his recent comments threatening to beat traders.
The NPP stalwart noted that no matter how stubborn the traders may be, beating them is extreme and goes against the laws of the country.
Speaking in an interview on Accra-based GHOne TV on Wednesday, April 16, Daaku said the Mayor appeared to have started on the wrong foot and urged him to calm down.
“I’ve been laughing throughout because it looks like the new Mayor is starting on the wrong foot. Mayor, calm down. Calm down. Whatever the problem is, it’s the same as we have in Accra at Mokola.
“Can you imagine that the Mayor of Accra gets up and tells Mokola women that, ‘If you don’t get up from where I say, I’ll beat you up’? Yes, they may be sitting where they are not supposed to be sitting—we all know. We’ve seen congestion exercises with traders before, but you don’t tell them you’ll beat them up. It is not done,” she said.
Her comment comes after the Mayor issued a two-week ultimatum to traders occupying pavements in the central business district to vacate or face forceful eviction.
The Mayor, who described his approach as a “democratic military style,” said he would not hesitate to unleash his team on traders who refuse to comply with the directive.
At a press conference, Mr Agyemang Boadi expressed frustration over the inefficiency of involving the police in such operations, claiming that offenders often return to the streets shortly after being arrested.
“So I have my own democratic military staff, which I’ll be implementing. When we say leave this space and you refuse, if I arrive alone, you may be lucky. But if I show up with my ten boys in their pickup with their canes, trust me, we’ll beat you,” he warned.
