The running mate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prof. Jane Naana OpokuAgyemang, has brokered peace in the leadership crisis at the Dome market in Accra, amidst jubilation by hundreds of market women.
A protracted dispute in the Dome Market Traders Association caused a division in the market’s leadership, with one faction led by madam Evelyn Abena Sebie and the other led by madam Felicia Karley Amui; both holding themselves out as the legitimate market queen.
At a durbar of traders to receive Prof Opoku-Agyemang to the Dome market in the DomeKwabenya constituency on Monday, as part of her tour of markets in the Greater Accra region, the two market queens in their remarks to welcome the NDC’s running mate, introduced themselves as the legitimate leaders of the market, casting accusations and counter-accusations against each other, thereby creating tension in the market.
But Prof. Opoku-Agyemang swiftly intervened, encouraging them to bury the hatchet and not allow their differences to hinder the progress of the market. With the running mate standing between them on stage, the two market queens for the first time in many years, shook hands and embraced themselves to signal the end of their impasse, causing a thunderous jubilation in and around the market.
Prof Opoku-Agyemang thanked them for agreeing to resolve their dispute and promised to visit them to have all outstanding issues settled.
“We should not be fighting in these difficult times. Let us rather unite against hardship and underdevelopment,” she told the traders.
According to her, the deplorable state of the market is a concern of the NDC, promising a face-lift of the market under the next NDC administration. “We shall ensure that this market is well developed to make it conducive for trading,” she assured.
Apart from the NDC’s plan to redevelop markets around the country, the running mate assured them of other interventions to support traders and small and medium-scale enterprises, citing the proposed establishment of the Women’s Development Bank to provide critical microfinance support for the businesses of women.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang sympathised with the traders and Ghanaians in general for suffering the effects of the economic hardship in the country due to the mismanagement of the economy by the NPP government and assured them of relief under the NDC administration.
“We have carried both water and alcohol, so we now know the difference,” she said,
referring to the experiences of Ghanaians under the NDC and NPP governments, indicating that the track record of the NDC has clearly out-performed the NPP. She therefore urged the traders to vote massively for the NDC to return to power to continue its good projects, stressing that a vote for the NDC is a vote for development and progress.
“Development is our goal,” she said, reiterating the NDC’s commitment to all-inclusive governance without discrimination in the distribution of resources for development.
From the Dome market, the running mate visited the Kwabenya lorry station where she addressed hundreds of commercial drivers, commuters, traders and residents, assuring them of better living conditions under the next NDC administration.
