President John Dramani Mahama has directed that traders who were displaced as a result of the construc­tion of the phase two of the Kejetia Market redevelopment are to be the first beneficiaries when the project is completed.President Mahama said the situation where original occupants were overlooked after the completion of the first phase must not be repeated."The complaint was that those who were at the phase one before the construction began, when you finished with the construction, you gave the stores to strangers."When you are done with this one, those who were here before the construction begun must be served first.

Even if they don't have money to pay, let them make some down pay­ment, occupy it and pay little by little because they were displaced by the construction," he said.President Mahama gave this directive yesterday when he, escorted by the Ashanti Regional Minister, the Mayor of Kumasi, the National Chairman of the governing Nation­al Democratic Congress, inspected progress of work on the project."It is not fair", the President said for those who originally occupied the market and displaced by the construction to be ignored when stores are ready because they could not afford it.Addressing the traders after the inspection, President Mahama said progress of work stood at 66 per cent and that the project would be completed by the end of next year.The Kejetia Market, President Mahama ac­knowledged remains crucial to the economy of the region as hundreds depend on it for their livelihood.He said sections of the market which were razed down by fire sometime last year would be reconstructed to restore affected traders back to business.Nana Akosua Pokua, Deputy Market Queen, expressed the appreciation of the traders to the President for the gesture to expedite work on the project.She said the traders would cooperate with the contractors to ensure smooth execution of work.The €248 million project, which began in May 2019, had stalled since 2022 as a result of government's debt restructuring pro­gramme.When completed, the second phase of the project would have 20,000 stores. FROM JULIUS YAO PETETSI, KUMASI