Tempers flared at the Kwadaso Onion Market in Kumasi on Monday when a joint security taskforce enforced the eviction of traders as directed by the Ashanti Regional Security Council.
After a notice that met an initial resistance by the traders, hundreds of sheds were pulled down at the market under police-military supervision.
The regional Security Council had cited threats to security and vehicular congestion as reasons for evacuating the traders.
Aggrieved traders at the Kwadaso Onion Market rushed to salvage their wares while excavators demolish their erected sheds.
The traders watched in disarray as the trading space accommodating over hundred sheds were reduced to rubble.
After his one-year mandatory service to the nation, Alhassan Azure entered the onion trading business which has since been his source of livelihood.
He was awaiting the arrival of his trucks of onions from neighbouring, Niger, to the market when the taskforce requested them to evacuate the market.
“Now, where do I keep these onions,” he said.
The Kwadaso market is renowned as one of main onion trading hubs in Ghana, serving the Ashanti region and beyond.
The Ashanti Regional Security Council, in a recent directive, ordered the traders to exit the market, citing vehicular congestion created by heavy trucks that occupy portions of the road close to the market.
Attributing the death of a 45-year-old woman to the activities at the market, the Council concluded activities at the market posed security threats.
The traders who are not enthused with the move claimed to have paid monies to some chiefs to secure the space.
The Ashanti Regional Security Council and the Kwadaso Municipal Assembly secured a place at Atwima Takyiman, a 20-minute drive from the old market, to aid the relocation.
But the affected traders say the new market cannot contain them.
Some traders are already adjusting to settle at the new place, though there are concerns.
Back at the Kwadaso Onion Market, the demolition and relocation exercise continue as the taskforce is erecting a barricade to fend off the traders from any possible invasion.
Some regular patrons of the market admit the activities of the traders caused congestion, while some spoke about how the relocation will burden them.
Meanwhile, some traders have started trading along shoulders of the road leading to the old market.