Portions of Buipe market |
Traders at Buipe in the Northern Region have
passionately appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to turn attention to the
deplorable Buipe Market and turn it into a state of art trading centre.
The Buipe Market which is the biggest market
centre in the three Northern Regions attracts traders from Kumasi, Techiman,
Dormaa, Berekum, Sunyani, Krachi, Bimbilla, Yendi, Salaga, Makango, Tamale, Wa,
Bolgatanga, Bawku and almost all the regions of Ghana. It is also patronized by
traders from the neighbouring Burkina Faso, Togo and Niger, who usually deal in
cattle, goats, tomatoes and onion.
However, the nature of the market leaves much to
be desired especially during raining seasons.
Speaking in separate interviews with Savannahnews in Buipe during a visit to the market, the traders
expressed deepest disappointment at successive governments for unjustifiably
neglecting the Buipe Market which they asserted had the potential to generate
more revenue for the nation.
One of the Market Leaders, Maame Blackie flanked
by Madam Elizabeth Ansah and Madam Rabi (all fish sellers) expressed the
confidence that when given the needed attention or facelift, the Buipe Market
would inarguably rock shoulders with the Techiman market in terms of patronage
and revenue generation.
Buipe is the gateway to the three Northern
Regions and the neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger and the market has become
attractive to the traders from the neighbouring countries because it offers
them the opportunity to transport goods to and from the southern part of Ghana
through the Volta Lake.
The Buipe Market is strategically located between
the main Kumasi-Burkina Faso trunk road and the Buipe Inland Port on the Black
Volta.
It is also the main central point for all the
fishing communities along the White and Black Volta lakes as well as those
along the other major rivers and even those from the Coastal areas of Ghana to
do business. Apart from the fish, the Market has the comparative advantage over
the others, due to the large sale of cattle, goats, sheep and guinea fowls.
The Buipe Market is also noted for the
availability of large quantities of yams, groundnut, sorghum, soya bean,
dawadawa, okra, pepper, tomatoes, watermelon and a host of other crops, fruits
and vegetables. The market also witnesses the display of different types of
farm inputs, cooking utensils, electrical appliances, clothing, clothes, and
any other items that are useful in the homes.
Nonetheless, Maame Blackie and her group bewailed
the extremely poor state of the market which had forced most of the traders
dealing in tomatoes, pepper, onion, garden eggs, oranges, carrots, groundnut
paste, palm oil and so many other perishable and delicate items to openly
display items on the muddy ground.
They indicated that the Assembly had also failed
upon several appeals to properly control the movement of Cargo trucks and
passenger vehicles who load or offload their goods in the market. In most
cases, the vehicles, they said end up splashing muddy waters onto the buyers,
traders and their items.
The traders complained why government through the
District assembly had been collecting taxes from them on daily basis and yet
very little or nothing had been done to improve the state of the market.
They asserted that, most of the traders were in
the fish business through loans from Banks and other micro-finance companies,
but the state of the market always put them at a loss since they could not sell
whenever there was little or heavy rains.
“During dry seasons too, all the muddy areas also
turn very dusty so we have to battle with the scorching sun and dust because
vehicles also pass through the market. We don’t even have stores in the market,
so as you (referring to this reporter) can see anytime it is raining or
whenever we close from the market we have to convey all our fishes to our
homes. Some of us come from far communities, and supposing you have 30 or 50
baskets of dry fish and you are to pack all of them during rains, definitely
you will lose most of them to the rain”.
The frustrated traders lamented that because of
the high losses, majority of the women had run out of the market because they
could not pay their creditors, who always threaten to seize their goods or drag
them to court.
Buipewura |
The Paramount Chief of Buipe Traditional Area,
Buipewura Mahama Jinapor II in an interview at his palace was even more
passionate in his remarks, blaming successive governments of playing politics
with the market.
He was disappointed about the absence of places
of convenience, refuse containers and drainage systems in the market and the
Buipe town in general. Both males and female traders face each other to
defecate and urinate in open spaces and nearby bushes.
Meanwhile, Buipe is the leading commercial hub of
the Northern Sector, as businesses continue to locate to the area. One of the
largest cement producing companies in Ghana, Savannah Cement Company Limited
(SAVACEM) is located in Buipe.
The area also serves as the transit point for
the offloading and distribution of petroleum products to the Northern Sector,
cement from the Ghana Cement Company (GHACEM), Volta Cement Company (Diamond
Cement) and other metal and aluminum companies to supply to the north through
the Buipe Port.
Almost all the cargo trucks that ply from the
neighbouring countries to the southern part of Ghana also use Buipe as their
resting place for days before continuing their journeys.
The Paramount Chief ardently called on the ruling
government to construct the Buipe Market Centre into a modern business or
commercial centre with stores, walkways, car parks, sanitation facilities,
slaughter houses, and fridges for the fishermen to store their excess fishes
among others.
The Assemblyman for Buipe Electoral Area, Hon
Mahama Yussif in reaction to the revenue misappropriation claims by the
traders, said that he fully shared the same sentiments with the traders,
especially at this time of the rains.
However, he indicated that the nature and the
size of the Buipe market was far beyond the capacity of the District Assembly
alone and thus added his voice to the call for the massive construction of the
market.
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