LOGBA MARKET, A NEGLECTED GOLD MINE (PAGE 22)

LOGBA–Alakpeti on the Ho-Hohoe main road, which some people describe as the centre of the Volta Region, is doubtlessly a vibrant marketing centre. It is one of the few towns in the region that have a car park just by the roadside.
On a market day, it is the scene of a magic buoyant market attracting several traders from far and near.
Logba is a junction for three municipalities in the Volta Region, a centre for marketing natural fruits, a gateway to the popular tourist attraction — the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary — and also a gateway to the northern sector of the country through the eastern corridor.
As a junction for three municipalities, namely, Hohoe, Kpando and Ho, Logba has virtually the potential to attract traders from those areas and therefore it has consistently served as a regular market for all kinds of fruits all year round.
As tourists are interested in banana, pear, mangoes, they always converge on Logba, which is one of the communities along the Have-Golokwati route that serves visitors and tourists with those fruits at all times. The production of those fruits in large quantities is always possible because the people preserve their environments by preventing bush fires.
The Logba market, which is in brisk business once in five days, could be described as the engine of growth for the Hohoe Municipal Assembly as far as internally generated revenue was concerned.
Markets are viable avenues for development under the decentralisation process and now that Hohoe has been elevated to the status of a municipality, new strategies must be adopted to improve revenue generation.
Whether the assembly has the strength and power to meet that challenge is a different matter in view of the level of participation of the private sector in accelerating the socio-economic development of the area.
Luckily for the assembly, a non-governmental organisation, the Robert Ndor Memorial Project (RONJECT), has fashioned out a new thinking for maximising the full potential of the Logba market with the help of the Business Advocacy and Challenge (BUSAC) fund.
The Executive Director of RONJECT, Mr Delali Ndor, told a rejuvenated local marketing committee that the importance of markets could not be underplayed in view of their contribution towards the socio-economic development of communities and the nation at large.
He said good organisation was paramount in checking the high rate of revenue leakages and therefore charged the committee to set out rules and regulations to eradicate such behaviours.
Mr Ndor stressed the need for the people to understand the challenges confronting them and be ready to deal with them holistically.
He warned against defecation in the market since that was a primitive and unhygienic act that could affect the health of the people.
A senior revenue superintendent of the municipal assembly, Mr William K. Asamoah, stated that the market was rated second in the area but had declined to the bottom of the ladder because the chiefs and people in the area had shown apathy towards its development.
He assured the people of the assembly’s support to revive the market if the showed the tenacity to succeed, adding that the level of collaboration so far was an indication that the people were prepared to change their status quo.
Mr Asamoah said illegal sheds were prohibited on the market and that they should be actively involved in grassroots participation, adding that they should work in consultation with the local management committee because it was the very tenet of local government.
He promised that the assembly was considering constructing a meat market in the area.
The chairman of the Logba Market Traders Association, Mr Patrick Agbate, recounted his disappointment as a stakeholder when the market began to decline since 1996. He said the inauguration of a local marketing committee was a significant revival of the “gold mine” of the people and pleaded with them to help in achieving the targets.
The project monitor of BUSAC fund and representative of B.T, Consult, Mrs Adeline Alomenu, charged the people to work hard in order to achieve the targets of their proposals, adding that once they were on the BUSAC fund, it was obvious that they could improve on their environments in all spheres because that was the challenge inherent in the BUSAC acronym.
The Secretary of the Local Management Committee, Mr G.M.K. Akotia, expressed concern about the deplorable state of the market.
He, however, stated that with the help of BUSAC and RONJECT, the reviving of the market would be a reality.