Ketu South Assembly supports Agbozume Market
New sheds are to be constructed for the Agbozume Market to deal with the perennial problem of market women having to trade in the open space and often at the mercy of the weather.
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In addition, a health centre situated at the Agbozume Market will soon be upgraded to a clinic to provide immediate health access to market women and their children.
This was announced by the Ketu South Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Pascal Lamptey, when a delegation from the Agbozume Market Women Association called on him to share some challenges they were having, with a view to garnering support to address them.
The Agbozume Market itself, he said, would soon be given a facelift to serve as a conducive environment for market women to sell their wares and for patrons to feel comfortable doing business in the market.
Mr Pascal Lamptey and a team from the assembly, after the meeting with the women, paid a visit to the market to acquaint himself with the situation on the ground.
Stating their challenges, the secretary of the Agbozume Market Women Association, Madam Mavis Adzraku, noted that most of the banks they were borrowing from to do business were now charging high interest rates, which was adversely affecting their businesses.
“And as the representative of the President of Ghana, we want to appeal to the government to establish a rural micro-business bank in this our Ketu South Municipality so that we can have easy access to loans at a low interest rate. This will help us to expand our businesses, hence leading to socioeconomic development,” she said.
According to Madam Adzraku, most of the sheds in the market, roofed some 50 years ago, were now nothing to be proud of, exposing traders to the harsh weather and its negative implications for business and health, adding that the ‘Gborshime’ (goat market) side of the market needed serious attention before the major rainy season.
“No assembly can develop without expanding its revenue generation, and we want to use this platform to alert you that the Agbozume Market normally contains over 3000 people, but unfortunately without a single urinal. We want to appeal to the assembly that the Agbozume Market needs a urinal, and whatever revenue comes out of it (the urinal) can be used for other developments in the municipality,” the market women maintained.