Street Trading and Environmental Management in Central Accra: Decentralisation and Metropolitan Governance in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana’s decentralised system of development administration is supposed to involve all stakeholders in the governance of all local government areas, including metropolitan areas, in development at the local level. Among the many stakeholder groups that a metropolitan assembly has to deal with are trade associations. Members of the street traders associations are engaged in street trading, particularly in the central business district (CBD) of Accra Metropolitan Area (AMA). Street trading, like other aspects of the informal economy, has not been physically integrated into the urban land use and the management system of the metropolitan areas and yet the activities of street traders impinge on urban environmental management. This has been a source of conflict between them and the authorities of AMA, though AMA collects a substantial amount of money from them in form of market tolls etc annually. While AMA has made several attempts to settle street traders in the CBD, AMA has so far not been able to adequately address the challenges posed by street trading in the heart of the city. This paper describes street trading in the CBD of AMA and the role played by traders and their associations in environmental management within the CBD of AMA. It also describes the relationships between the street traders and their associations on one hand and between them and the AMA authorities on the other regarding the above and the question of their physical integration within the space economy of the metropolitan area. The paper discusses the implications of these for the decentralisation process as well as for the governance of the metropolitan area.