No law backs brute force on street hawkers – Osei-Mensah tells Kumasi Mayor

Former Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, has strongly criticised recent comments by Kumasi Mayor, Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi, who threatened to flog traders defying the city’s pavement trading ban.

The newly installed mayor, in announcing a two-week decongestion exercise starting Wednesday, April 16, 2025, warned that traders refusing to comply would face corporal punishment. “If I am alone, you will be lucky. But if I have my 10 boys in their pick-up with me and their whips, trust me, we will beat you,” he said.

Reacting to the statement on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Mr. Osei-Mensah condemned the mayor’s remarks as unlawful and inappropriate. “There’s no law supporting it,” he stressed, urging city authorities to adopt lawful and humane approaches to decongestion.

He recommended the creation of designated trading areas to accommodate vendors and address the root causes of street trading. When asked if he would have used such tactics during his time in office, Mr. Osei-Mensah responded emphatically, “No,” distancing himself from the mayor’s controversial approach.