Lessons from the Kaneshie Market
From time immemorial, markets have had a special place in our communities and everywhere their design has basically been the same: An open air facility that lets in sunlight and fresh air.
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Yet, currently, apparently in the name of ‘modernity’, local assemblies seem to be obsessed with doing away with the traditional style. When the opportunity presents itself for a new market, they appear determined to replace what we know with designs of questionable practicality.
These days, every time one reads about a new market the promise is that it’s going to be “ultra-modern”. Regardless of the location, there seems to be a one-size-fits-all approach; they are all to be ‘ultra-modern’, as the following excerpts from some dailies of December 22, 2014 show:
“The Kotokuraba Market in Cape Coast has finally been demolished to pave way for the construction of an ultra-modern market in the area” (Ghanaian Times).
“An ultramodern market earmarked to primarily sell farm produce is to be constructed at Mepom in the Upper West Akyem District early next year” (Daily Graphic).
“The Kotokuraba Market in Cape Coast ...was demolished to pave way for the construction of an ultra-modern market ....” (Daily Guide).
Anyway, what exactly is meant by “ultra-modern”? The reports hardly ever go into specifics.
However, to its credit, a report about a new, “three-story modern” market for Ho did give some details: The Ghanaian Times of November 20, 2014, wrote: “The 8.5 million Euros Ho Central market Reconstruction Project has taken off in earnest ....
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“When completed, the new market (will) have 302 units, warehouses, a health post, fire station, banks and a police station (among other facilities).”
When there is news about an “ultra-modern” market, it appears that what is being proposed is a storeyed facility. But does a market qualify as ‘modern’ only if it is a storey building or covered premises?
Or is there, perhaps, some confusion with shopping malls, which are enclosed premises, now in vogue in Ghana?
The example of the Kaneshie Market, in Accra, should provide useful lessons and guidance for all local authorities as to what a market in Ghana should not be.
When it was built some 35 years ago, the Kaneshie Market was hailed as a pleasing innovation and it is still an impressive structure. Nevertheless, it is now very clear that its designers and the owners should have paid more attention to what a market is, notably in the Ghanaian context, a facility that makes use of natural lighting. But who can blame them? “Dum-sor” and “adumdum-adumdum” were then not in the picture.
Today the Kaneshie Market is a three-storey virtual oven, whose mostly covered top lets in little of the lovely, abundant sunlight Ghana is noted for. Also, the country’s present power crisis has underscored its greatest shortcoming. The lights have to be on all the time because it was planned to rely on electric power. When one drives past one can see the lights on despite the brilliant sunshine outside.
Even with the lights on, many of the stalls are dimly lit, so it can be imagined what happens during power outages. My information is that traders who can afford it use generators; others use lanterns, or manage in the dark until the electricity is restored – with all the security implications and inconveniences for both traders and customers.
Do we need covered markets when we have no need to keep out cold weather, as is necessary in some parts of the world?
Thankfully, the ground floor has been allocated to foodstuffs, vegetables, meat and fish sellers. But it is also bustling, hot, humid and enveloped in all the market smells, making a visit there not the pleasant experience one expects of a traditional Ghanaian market; not a place for lingering.
If you suffer from claustrophobia, the fear of enclosed places, then visiting the Kaneshie Market is not advisable.
Little wonder that there are so many traders with makeshift stalls and vending tables outside the market building, doing good business too, probably to the annoyance of the traders inside.
And the stairs leading to the top floors are extremely steep, which clearly that doesn’t encourage people to climb up.
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Yet, if one makes the effort to climb up, what is revealed is a fantastic array of all sorts of goods, ranging from wax prints and fabrics, through clothes, to footwear, cosmetics, jewellery and even school uniforms. There are also numerous services available there, including hairdressers, tailors and seamstresses. I wonder how patronage of their wares has been over the years.
For, how convenient is it for the average market customer to climb up, or down, steep flights of stairs, possibly struggling with a heavy bag or basket?
When I asked a woman who does her weekly shopping at the Kaneshie market, how it felt to be inside it, she replied: “Inside that market? I don’t go inside! I buy all my needs from the traders outside.”
It would be interesting to know the results if studies were conducted on the effects of its environment on the health and eyesight of the women who have been trading there for years.
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The most popular markets I know about in Europe are open air ones. Two famous markets in London that come to mind are the Brixton and East Street markets in south London; open air, very long stretches of shops, stalls and vending tables; and no storey buildings.
Regarding the new Ho market, my question is: Before commissioning the design, did the local authorities ask the women what type of “modern” market would suit them?
Are the women of Cape Coast and Mepom being consulted about the design of the new, “ultra-modern” markets?
There are many stories of markets put up at great expense but which the traders have refused to occupy for various reasons. Last year, a Ghana News Agency report told of a market at Akyem Oda still not being used four good years after its completion! The reason? The Municipal Assembly had allegedly not provided a wall around the market and the traders were afraid for the safety of their wares left there. Would this need not have been factored in if the women had been consulted initially?
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Yet, it seems the local authorities never learn. Market design continues to be decided by the people who normally have no business there: men!
It should be mandatory that before a new market is designed, the views of the local women especially, should be sought before anything is put on the drawing board.
Above all, even where a storey building is preferred, it should reflect our traditional market design and make use of the plentiful sunlight we are blessed with.