Tension is gradually brewing at the Adabraka Market in Accra as aggrieved market women are bracing up against what they describe as the ‘tyrannical leadership’ of their Market Queenmother, Madam Ablavi Gbormitah, aka Daavi Akpene.
Today gathered that Madam Akpene has created a system at the market which is making it extremely difficult for other users to make meaningful living.
The said group, created by the queen, comprises one Eunice and Gifty, who according to the traders, have been sending wrong information and allegations against other market women which consequently led to the dismissal and suspensions of many of the traders at the market.
Speaking in an interview with Today the traders at Adabraka market disclosed that some women who through no fault of theirs are currently on suspension. “It will surprise you to know that there are some women who continue to sit at home because they have been suspended by our queen-mother. How do they expect us to live and take care of our children?” the aggrieved traders asked amid sobs.
According to them, though there are regulations at the market for all to follow, in the event of a breach of any of these regulations, the market queen can chose to collect foreign schnapps, crates of coke, crates of Malt and an amount of GH¢5000.00 and still go ahead and suspend the culprit from the market for five years, six months and sometimes four years.
They noted that there have been several instances where traders have been asked not to step foot at the market.
This situation, they said, was creating tension and confusion at the market. The latest incident reported to this paper, which broke the hearts of many traders in the market, had to do with a trader, Madam Evelyn Avuwoadah, who was suspended four months without doing anything wrong.
In the case of Madama Avuwoadah, the traders noted that the queen-mother warned them not to transact any business or be in talking terms with her and that any market men and women caught chatting with Madam Avuwoadah will be sanctioned.
According to sources close to the market, the traders were to contribute ten Ghana Cedis towards the funeral arrangement of their watchman. The traders asserted that a four-day period was given for the payment of the money.
Upon this development, they explained that Madam Avuwoadah was approached by Madam Eunice and Madam Gifty, but she was not able to pay the money on that day.
She however, pleaded with them to come for it the following day. “But these two ladies went and told our queen-mother that Madam Evelyn Avuwoadah had refused to pay and that she said she was not going to pay a penny,” the traders stated. They mentioned that the market queen refused to take the money the following day when Madam Avuwoadah brought it to her.
According to the market queen, she has suspended the said trader,” the sources told Today. This development, the traders noted, was giving them severe headache with many of them unable to cope with the long periods of suspension.
The traders therefore, called on the National Market Association leadership to step into the operations at the Adabraka market so as to restore sanity and peace at the market. However, when contacted by Today on Thursday, November 23, 2017 to seek clarification on the matter, Madam Akpene admitted slapping a four-month suspension on Madam Evelyn Avuwoadah for ‘flouting the rules and regulations governing the Adabraka Market.
According to her, she took the decision to suspend Madam Avuwoadah due to her bad behaviour towards the two ladies she sent to come for the money.
“The persistent arrogant posture of Evelyn towards everybody in the market is so pervasive to the extent that her name has become household name in the whole Adabraka Market…so we the leadership of the market think the only punishment for her to learn her lesson was to suspend her for some months to serve as a deterrent to others,” the Adabraka market queen told Today.
She debunked the allegation that she was an autocratic at the market.
Story: Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu