KUMASI MAYOR CRACKS DOWN ON STRAY CATTLE
In a press conference held at the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly’s Conference Room on Monday, April 14, 2025, the Mayor of Kumasi, Hon. Richard Ofori-Agyeman Boadi has announced a zero-tolerance policy on stray cattle within the city limits.
With effective May 1, 2025, the movement of cattle is banned in the city as part of measures to address bedeviling sanitation challenge of Kumasi.
He noted that stray cattle were causing inconvenience, including dirtying the environment, posing a danger to pedestrians, and sometimes causing vehicular traffic.
He advised that owners of cattle could rear their cattle without allowing them to move outside their confined spaces.
He warned that any cattle caught after this ban would be given to the Central Prisons to feed the inmates.
“Owners of cattle should note that their cattle can move freely elsewhere without any punitive action taken against them, but not within the Kumasi Metropolis,” he said emphatically.
Hon. Ofori-Agyeman Boadi therefore urged cattle owners to cooperate with his directive in an attempt to keep the city clean and restore it to its former glory.
Ban on Trading in Median of Roads
Pending a holistic decongestion exercise to free the movement of vehicles and human beings, there is a ban on all trading activities in the median of roads within the Central Business District (CBD) of Kumasi.
This means that no trader will be allowed to display goods or deliver a service at the median of roads within the CBD.
Mayor of Kumasi, announced with vigor that starting from Wednesday, April 16, 2025, it will be forbidden to trade in the median of roads. However, he mentioned that although the ban starts on Wednesday, full enforcement will begin on April 23.
" All structures be it metal or wood on tired roads and median of the roads should be removed immediately", adding that all metal structures would be pulled down and given to scrap dealers freely if owners fail to adhere to his directives.
He warned that recalcitrant traders who fail to abide by the directives will be dealt with drastically.
He promised that a holistic decongestion exercise is in the offing and requested the media to publicize the move to inform traders and the public ahead of time.
He noted that the incompletion of Kejetia Market Phase 2 and the Adum fire outbreak are contributing to congestion in the city, but they should not be reasons to trade in unauthorized spaces.
The Mayor of Kumasi said the congestion situation in CBDs demands a radical approach to address the challenge and expressed readiness to confront it head-on.
Improvement of Sanitation at Adum
The Mayor of Kumasi hinted at press conference that, as part of the Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development (HORESD) project by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), there is a proposal to use prison inmates to clear dirt and desilt gutters in Adum.
He told the press the KMA plans to hire inmates from the Kumasi Central Prisons to tackle the increasing volumes of dirt and choked gutters in Adum, the busiest business center in the city.
He stated that he has held a meeting with the prison leadership to discuss the possibility of this decision and mentioned that they have verbally accepted his proposal.
Adum is a central business district where commercial activities boom daily, generating huge volumes of waste.
The Mayor said that the KMA will hire prison inmates to support the HORESD project to keep Adum neat at all times, and consistently increase revenues generated from the area.
Good Stewardship
Hon. Ofori-Agyeman Boadi assured the press that he's ready to work to justify the confidence repose in him by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and President John Dramani Mahama.
He said both Otumfuo and President Mahama trust that he could bring transformational change to Kumasi through his leadership.
"Kumasi is the city for Otumfuo; I need to work very hard to bring back the Garden City status and please the Asantehene, and President Mahama who gave me the mandate to serve the people of Kumasi", he told the press.
He assured that under his watch, there would be discipline and enforcement of law to keep the city clean and improve traffic, sanitation, and other issues impeding the progress of Kumasi.
He therefore requested that the public comply with the laws and bylaws of the Assembly to make the city attractive to investors and businesses.