Residents and traders at Kaasuankuda site at Maamobi in Accra have reacted to the announcement by the Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly Chief Executive, which gave them a six-week notice to leave the present location at Maamobo, to a new site at Ayikuma near Dodowa in the Shai Osudoku District.
According to the residents and traders association, they were already engaging the assembly on a possible relocation, and at no point has the MCE informed them that they have a six-week ultimatum to relocate.
In an interview with Graphic Online on Wednesday, the leaders said they were surprised to read the announcement of the ultimatum from the MCE in the media, which, according to them, was not proper.
As far as they are concerned, as members of the association, they are still engaging the assembly and several issues in relation to the relocation from Maamobi to Ayikuma were outstanding, which have not been resolved for the discussions to conclude.
Operating under the name Concerned Citizens of Maamobi No. 2 Market, they are contesting the timeline for the construction of a new market without completing an earlier agreed process to establish a joint technical committee to oversee discussions on their relocation.
The group said that although they had submitted the names of their representatives to serve on the committee, the assembly had not responded before publicly announcing that construction would begin within six weeks.
The leader and spokesperson of the group, Mr Justice Kojo Tsekpo told Graphic Online on Wednesday [June 24, 2026] that the residents were taken by surprise by media reports announcing the deadline.
"We submitted the names of our five representatives, but there was no response from the assembly. Then suddenly the deadline was announced publicly, and we were left wondering what exactly the over 5,000 people here are expected to do," he said.
Mr Tsekpo explained that at a consultative meeting on May 25, 2026, representatives of the assembly and the community agreed to establish a 10-member joint technical committee comprising five representatives from each side to discuss the relocation process.
He said the committee was expected to deliberate on issues including arrangements for the relocation site, the legal framework governing the acquisition of the new land at Ayikuma and the conditions under which affected residents and traders would move to the alternative site within Shai Osudoku District at Ayikuma near Dodowa.
According to him, the community submitted the names of its representatives through a formal letter delivered to the assembly in June, but had not received any response before the six-week notice was announced.
Mr Tsekpo said the group was not opposed to relocating and had inspected the proposed site, which members considered suitable but said the land had not been prepared for occupation because it lacked access roads, potable water, electric power supply and land clearance.
He added that no Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed to define the obligations of both parties before the relocation.
"Before any movement takes place, we need an MoU that clearly states the terms agreed upon. Once that is done, adequate time can then be given for people to relocate in an organised manner," he said.
Background
Mr Tsekpo explained that the Kaasuankuda land was originally an abandoned cemetery acquired by the state through an Executive Instrument in 1963 for the construction of the then proposed New Nima Market.
He said the site was later opened for development in 1974 by the then Accra City Council (ACC), which invited traders to develop the land into a market.
According to him, those traders invested their own resources to develop the area and had continued to pay levies under successive local government administrations, including the Accra City Council, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and now the Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly.
He said a previous attempt to evict occupants in 2023 was suspended after residents petitioned the Ministry of Local Government.
Redevelopment
The planned relocation forms part of the government's programme to redevelop the Kaasuankuda site under the 24-hour economy policy.
The Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly has been allocated GH¢42 million out of a total project cost of GH¢58 million to construct a market on the land.
Earlier this month, the Municipal Chief Executive for Ayawaso North, Mr Haruna Mohammed Awal, told the Daily Graphic that construction could begin within six weeks once occupants had been relocated. He said arrangements were being made to provide electricity and potable water at the relocation site.
Mr Tsekpo said discussions facilitated by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the Legal Aid Commission had established that relocation should precede any eviction exercise.
He argued that the six-week notice was inconsistent with the sequence agreed during the mediation process.
He warned that evicting residents and traders before completing the relocation arrangements would affect the livelihoods of thousands of people operating at the site.
"Article 20 of the Constitution clearly explains how persons affected by forced evictions should be treated. They must be properly resettled and their living conditions should not become worse than what existed before," he said.
Mr Tsekpo said the group had not held any direct discussions with the Municipal Chief Executive since the announcement of the deadline and appealed to the assembly to resume negotiations.
