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Government intends to construct a 24-hour market in each of Ghana’s 261 districts as part of efforts to modernize trading, improve security, and provide social services at market centres, Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, has announced.
Representing his Ministry at the Assurances Committee public hearing in Parliament today, Mr. Ibrahim said the project is being driven directly by the President and is modelled to address challenges traders currently face in markets across the country.
“We intend to build 261 markets, one in every district. We have 261 districts and we intend to build 261, one market in every district,” the Minister told Parliament.
He explained that the 24-hour market concept was inspired by the growing presence of retail chains and the need for local traders to have competitive, safe, and well-serviced trading spaces.
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“The president wants to construct a 24-hour market for every district because wherever you go, you’ll see a China Mall. You go to Spintex Road, you see China Mall. You go to Amasaman and you see China Mall, almost all the prime lands, China Mall,” Mr. Ibrahim explained.
A key justification for the round-the-clock model, according to the Minister, is to curb the frequent market fires that destroy goods worth millions of cedis, most of which occur at night. “The market fires we always see, what time do they happen? It’s in the night so assuming there was a fire post in the market, where fire officers are working in the night, when they are patrolling the place, nobody can come and set fire there,” he stated.
Security is also central to the new market design. Mr. Ibrahim noted that night trading will require a strong police presence to protect traders and goods. “The other problem is security. If you say you are going to do business at night, there must be security. So even during the daytime, people are stealing from people so if there is no police station, it will be a problem so the market model we are designing, we will make sure there is a police station,” he added.
Beyond commerce and security, the Minister said the markets will be built as integrated community hubs to address gaps in health and childcare services in many districts. “Sometimes too when you are sick, you go to some districts, hardly will you see a district hospital or a pharmacy. In some districts all you see is over-the-counter chemical sellers so the markets we are going to build must include pharmacy shops,” he said.
He also cited the burden on market women with young children, noting that traveling to separate creches wastes productive time. “Sometimes too, a market woman may be a woman with a child of a young age. By the time they will spend to go to the creche before coming to the market, it will be time-consuming so we will include a creche in that market,” Mr. Ibrahim explained.
