The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has deployed 100 special revenue collectors to the Kantamanto Market to begin collecting its GH¢2 daily toll from traders, as part of efforts to improve revenue mobilisation and support sanitation management in the market.
The deployment follows earlier engagements between the Assembly and leadership of the market last year on the need to regularise toll collection, improve cleanliness and enforce order within the market enclave after its reopening.
Addressing the collectors before deployment, the Mayor of Accra,Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey urged them to carry out the exercise with confidence, discipline and professionalism, stressing that they were undertaking an official assignment on behalf of the Assembly and should therefore remain focused in the discharge of their duties.
He indicated that the toll was to be collected from traders who were actively operating in the market, particularly those trading on tabletops and in open sheds, and reminded the collectors that the system was based on daily business activity, not advance billing.
He also emphasised that the exercise was not intended to harass traders, but rather to ensure compliance with the Assembly’s lawful revenue measures and to sustain the services that the AMA continued to provide in the market.
The AMA’s Coordinating Director, Mr Douglas Annoful, in a remark, said the Assembly had put in place a supervision system to ensure that the operation was carried out smoothly and that no collector worked alone in the field.
