The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has deployed 100 special revenue collectors to the Kantamanto Market to begin collecting its GH¢2 daily toll from traders, as part of efforts to improve revenue mobilisation and support sanitation management in the market.

The deployment follows earlier engagements between the Assembly and leadership of the market last year on the need to regularise toll collection, improve cleanliness and enforce order within the market enclave after its reopening.

Addressing the collectors before deployment, the Mayor of Accra,Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey urged them to carry out the exercise with confidence, discipline and professionalism, stressing that they were undertaking an official assignment on behalf of the Assembly and should therefore remain focused in the discharge of their duties.

He indicated that the toll was to be collected from traders who were actively operating in the market, particularly those trading on tabletops and in open sheds, and reminded the collectors that the system was based on daily business activity, not advance billing.

He also emphasised that the exercise was not intended to harass traders, but rather to ensure compliance with the Assembly’s lawful revenue measures and to sustain the services that the AMA continued to provide in the market.

The AMA’s Coordinating Director, Mr Douglas Annoful, in a remark, said the Assembly had put in place a supervision system to ensure that the operation was carried out smoothly and that no collector worked alone in the field.

He explained that the 100 collectors had been grouped in teams of five, with each team assigned a supervisor or “parent figure” to guide them, answer their questions and help resolve any difficulties they might face during the exercise.

According to him, the arrangement was necessary to ensure that the collectors did not go astray and that they remained properly coordinated while working in various sections of the market adding that senior officers of the Assembly would accompany the teams during the exercise to address all operational challenges, including refusal to pay, the need for change or uncertainty over particular trading spots.

He also advised them to be observant and to distinguish between traders who were visibly operating and those whose spaces were temporarily unattended, stressing that there had to be clear evidence that a person was doing business before the toll was demanded.

The Coordinating Director reiterated that supervisors had not been assigned to engage in confrontation, but rather to provide support, protect the collectors from unnecessary difficulty and ensure that the exercise was conducted in an orderly and lawful manner.

The deployment of the 100 special revenue collectors is therefore expected to strengthen compliance with the daily toll regime at Kantamanto, while reinforcing the AMA’s broader efforts to improve sanitation, enhance service delivery and restore order in one of Accra’s busiest trading hubs.