Kejetia traders sue KMA, Chief Executive
Traders at the Kejetia Bus Terminal have filed a contempt application against the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and its Chief Executive, Mr Kojo Bonsu.
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The traders are praying the Kumasi High Court to commit the KMA and its chief executive for contempt of court for bringing the administration of justice into irreparable disrepute.
The application will be moved on July 8, 2015.
According to the plaintiffs, the defendants deliberately disregarded and treated with impunity the pendency of an application for injunction before the court against them by barricading the entrance to the Kejetia bus terminal and preventing them from having access to their places of trade.
Ex-parte motion
The ex-parte motion filed on June 29, 2015 is asking the court to order the KMA and Mr Bonsu to stop their contemptuous move, which includes barricading the terminal, and bear the cost of their behaviour.
The plaintiffs include the 402 members of the Kejetia Traders Association and the 2,283-member Kejetia Petty Traders Association.
In an affidavit in support of the motion, the traders stated that Mr Bonsu and the KMA’s behaviour was causing loss of business, with the attendant deprivation of their only source of income.
It claimed that the conduct of the KMA and its boss had brought the administration of justice into disrepute and ridicule and should not be countenanced.
Early action
Last week, the group filed a motion for an injunction on the KMA from going ahead with the reconstruction of the Kejetia Bus Terminal.
They are urging the court to declare that the deliberate extension of the Kumasi Central Market project to the Kejetia Bus Terminal is wrong, illegal and a calculated attempt to overreach the traders who have constructed permanent structures with the consent of the KMA, which collects monthly shop fees and daily tolls from them by reason of their occupancy of the stalls.
Statement of claim
In a statement of claim, the petty traders are urging the court to declare that the non-inclusion of the Kejetia bus terminal in the proposed rehabilitation project estimates sent to the Cabinet is indicative that the Kejetia bus terminal is not part of the overall project.
It says any purported inclusion of the Kejetia bus terminal is “fraudulent and calculated to infringe the proprietary rights of the plaintiffs”.