Former Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah has strongly opposed recent remarks by Kumasi Mayor Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi, who threatened to flog traders violating the city's pavement trading ban. The newly sworn-in mayor announced a two-week decongestion exercise beginning Wednesday, April 16, 2025, to clear traders from pavements and other unauthorized areas within Kumasi's central business district.
In a controversial warning, he said traders who failed to comply would face corporal punishment. "If I am alone, you will be lucky.
But if I have my 10 boys in their pick-up with me and their whips, trust me, we will beat you." In response, Mr.
Osei-Mensah condemned the statement, stressing that no law in Ghana allows such punitive actions.
