Adum, epicentre of xmas shopping in Kumasi
Christmas is in the air and Adum, the epicentre of trading in Kumasi, is brimming with human activity. However, trader anxiety is rising as traders complain of low sales despite the large numbers of shoppers who visit the shops.
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A number of traders who spoke with the Daily Graphic last Saturday said they were making below 50 per cent of expected sales ahead of Christmas, which is unusual.
Ms Augustina Adoma, a dealer in gift items, said: “I am doing everything to lure people to my shop but it appears many come here to window shop.”
Another trader in men’s wear, Mr Kofi Obeng, said he was making just about 40 per cent of expected sales.
Nonetheless, many of the traders were expecting significant improvement by Tuesday when many people typically rush to do last-minute shopping.
Items traded
Shopping is concentrated mostly on home entertainment and toys, children’s clothes and food items.
Second-hand clothes dealers are also not left out of the business activity and they appear to be having a field day because of what one of them described as “the manageable prices of the goods.” Patronage is good for the first grade clothes or what is known locally as ‘selection.’
Foodstuff
Prices of basic foodstuffs like plantain, cassava and cocoyam remain relatively stable. Three big tubers of yam cost GH¢10, while a medium size bunch of plantain sells at an average price of GH¢5 at the Asafo, Bantama and Central markets.
People selling goats and sheep are doing what some of them describe as good business.
Enquiries made at the Afia Kobi Market, formerly known as the Abinkyi Market, have revealed that goats were being sold at between GH¢100 and GH¢300 depending on the size, while sheep were being sold at GH¢150 and GH¢600.
In the face of stiff competition for customers, some shops are offering discounts between 10 and 25 per cent but others have hiked their prices to take advantage of the situation.
At the Melcom Supermarket, hordes of shoppers had swarmed the shopping area. One shopper who gave her name as Mrs Pricilla Bonsu was at the shopping area with her three children. She said after comparing prices of some of the goods she wanted, she was content with doing business at Melcom.
Traffic situation
Traffic congestions characterise the city centre, with shoppers and vehicles struggling for space on the streets.
Police, both plain-clothed and uniformed, were at hand to ensure security.
Street shopping at Christmas, which is synonymous with the Garden City, is in full glow and some traders are taking advantage of it.
Christmas messages
Some ministers of the gospel want to use the occasion to take the fight against corruption to another level.
They bemoaned the rate at which corruption was eating into the various facets of life and said Christmas presented a fine opportunity for them to rise up against the canker.
Some of the churches would also make donations to needy institutions.
In an interview with the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Kumasi Catholic Archdiocese, Most Reverend Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye, he described as alarming the rate at which corruption was gradually eating into the various facets of the nation.
He said no matter where it occurred, it militated against national development and would not bring peace to Ghanaians.
“If we are all guided in our consciences by integrity and honesty, there will be no corruption or at least, it will be reduced, and Ghana will be a better place than it today. Let’s all try to put an end to corruption so that we can enjoy the peace that Christ has given us,” he said.
Most Rev. Anokye said the judiciary should be seen to be interpreting the laws of the land fairly and impartially, and as the laws are no respecters of persons, all people should be treated equally before it.
He wondered why some members of the judiciary allowed themselves to be bribed; the results is justice will not be dispensed.
The Founder and Leader of the Vida Bethel Ministry at Paakoso-Aprade, Dr Mrs Vida Osei-Mensah, said Christmas should not be a period for only merry making but a period to reconcile with our maker in heaven.
“Why should people make the period a time for perpetrating social vices which in the long run defeat the motive for cerebrating the season ?”
On the issue of corruption, Dr Mrs Osei-Mensah said there was the need for all Ghanaians to be very vigilant in their endeavours if the fight against corruption would be won.
“There is the need for a change of mind or a new paradigm shift by all citizens to help bring about a holistic change in all institutions in the country since corruption is gradually becoming a household name in the country,” she said.
The Bompata Area Head of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Caesar Asante, called on Ghanaians to let the future development of the nation be their priority since any bad practice today could pose a great danger to generations unborn.
The Bishop’s Administrative Assistant of the Mid-Ghana Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church, Rev. Dr Seth Frimpong, said although Christmas came with the euphoria of cerebration, there was the need for people to be careful with what they did during the period.
He appealed to Ghanaians to eschew selfishness, which usually pushed people to do bad things without thinking about its effects on the nation and the people in it.
He called for all to pray for unity of purpose and oneness and eschew divisive ethnic, political and religious tendencies which could bring about conflict.
Unlike Easter where conventions are usually held, church activities in the metropolis would be concentrated in the traditional church buildings where special prayers would be said for the nation, its leaders and the entire citizenry.