The Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly has begun conversations with the Bolgatanga Cattle Traders to work out the kinks in relocating the traders, or at least part of the market to Yorogo to complement the relocation of the butchers to the ultramodern abattoir at Yorogo, a suburb of Bolgatanga.
It would be recalled that as part of the preconditions for relocation, the butcher requested to have the cattle and small ruminant markets moved to Yorogo. The butchers argued that the distance between the current locations of the livestock markets and the abattoir would increase the cost of the work they do.
Meanwhile, when A1 Radio interacted with the Cattle Traders, they were displeased about the thoughts of relocation. They wondered why the butchers would want to pass the cost of transportation to them. They also said without purchases from the butchers, they still met their daily sells target; an indication that they are not financially impacted by the businesses of the butchers.
The MCE for Bolgatanga, Rex Asanga confirmed this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East. “The Municipal Security Council met with the cattle traders and they had discussions. Of course, they [the cattle traders], like the butchers have their own apprehensions because they think that we [the Assembly] has used four years to negotiate the movement of the butchers. Why do we think that they should become an appendage and move at out whims and caprices?”
“So we need to negotiate with them,” he said.
Mr. Asanga continued to say that “because of the reluctance of the butchers to move, the Assembly has not put in place infrastructure for kraals at the site. It was difficult for the Assembly to go into any major expenditures, without the butchers being onsite”.
While the conversations with the butchers continue, the MCE maintained that negotiations will also continue to allow or a fair decision to be taken on the relocation of cattle traders.
“When it comes to infrastructure, we have to start with it. For example, we will have to build a kraal to serve as a motivation for them to move. It is a gradual process,” he said.
Mr. Asanga was however quick to add that the Assembly is open to the idea of opening and painting two kraals; maintaining the old one at its current location and then opening a new one at Yorogo.
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Meanwhile, Mr. Asanga also commended media practitioners and the various media outlets for their unflinching support in his attempts to relocate grain traders from the new market to the old market as well as the resituate the slaughtering of ruminants to the Yorogo facility.
“It is not every day you will get every media house or journalist to just be supporting a course taken by a politician. But in these two activities, I got the media completely in support of it. They really went out of the way to give us support and I think that is what kept us on. We were encouraged by the support. It appears that the population was also waiting for somebody to take those bold decisions,” he said.
A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith |Bolgatanga|Ghana
