26th September 2018

It was not a surprise to know that in each country one Mumbai exist with all its ups and downs, pros and cons, its loneliness and crowd, Its Slums, its protest, its leaders, layman and last but not least, its entertainment industry. Mumbai is not a city, I found it as a brand which has its branches all over the world. While reading one news of protest I came across a West African Country Ghana. It has all the characters as Mumbai has and nevertheless its beaches as it is being on the Western Coastal area of Africa. As Mumbai is surrounded by Arabian Sea, Ghana is also surrounded by Gulf of Gunea. As Southern Eastern and western area of Bharat is surrounded by Bay of Bengal and Hindi Mahasagar respectively, Ghana is also surrounded by Atlantic Ocean and Ivory Coast. Ghana was declared a Republic and Unitary Constitutional Democratic Country on 1st July 1960. State of Maharashtra was formed with Mumbai, then Bombay as its capital on 1st May 1960, is it just a coincidence?

 

Mumbai is a city and capital of a State of Maharashtra of the Nation called Bharat, this is the only thing which differs from Ghana. But the fate both the places has to face is indifferent.

Few days back the street vendors were evicted from Mumbai streets by a muscle powered political party. The reason for this eviction was the fall of bridge at Elphinston Railway Station. It is another thing that the street vendors are returned on their businesses and no one is saying a word against them. We as a Mumbaikar’s supported their eviction because the streets were being so much crowded and messed as there was no place to move or no ambulance or fire brigade vehicle could pass through it. We also know that the street vendors are not the people of this land but all of them came in Mumbai for their survival. We want the local people to be involved in the service businesses. Locals does not include only Maharashtrians but the people who are living here for more than 30 years. But the new outsiders are paying high amount of rent to be establish there and the corrupt police and corporation men are more interested in that extra money rather than the safety of the people.

 

Being a coastal are Mumbai's Fishery is the traditional business which is dominant by women. These fisher women were evicted from their tradinal businesses but now after a huge protest they got the markets run by Corporations. Similarly, Ghana's local markets has supremacy of women vendors and they faced the eviction and finally their market place is being constructed. 

 

Ghana was in news in July this year due to the eviction of their 2000 market women and now it is their victory over the "decongestion exercise" launched by Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to clear traders off streets and pavements downtown. 2,000 women vendors in Madina, an Accra suburb, heard they would be evicted in June. The women refused to leave without a new, safer working space, and the city council gave them one after the huge protest in the leadership of Vida Tangwam, vice president of the Informal Hawkers and Vendors Association of Ghana. .



Vida Tangwam is pictured in front of the proposed new marketplace in Madina, Ghana, July 3, 2018.

 

The city of about two million is getting more crowded as people move in from poorer, rural regions, experts say, and markets are overflowing with traders selling everything from plastic sandals to dried fish.

"We want to create an environment where people will be able to move about more freely, unlike currently where they are competing with lorries on the roads," AMA spokesman Gilbert Ankrah told the press. The city is looking into creating new marketplaces, he said, but so far none have been provided for vendors evicted from the central business district this year.



For decades street vendors have been forcibly, and sometimes violently, cleared off the streets of Accra, say civil society groups. "It's because of the togetherness in the market, that made them to have one voice. And I think that voice was heard," said Tangwam.

 

It was the first time vendors had pushed back with such success - normally if they are given an alternate marketplace at all, it is unusable, said the advocacy group Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).

Women make up the majority of Accra's informal workers, who account for over 80 percent of the city's working population, according to the government. They dominate small trade and retail, contributing to Ghana's ranking as one of the countries with the highest proportion - at 46 percent - of female business owners worldwide, according to a 2018 index of women entrepreneurs by credit card firm Mastercard. That makes the stakes even higher for many street vendors.



It took several months of discussions and even radio interviews for the city and vendors to reach an agreement in Madina, said Tangwam. The women were first told to move to a muddy field with no toilets, streetlights or storage. After the municipal assembly provided the requested amenities, they willingly relocated. The assembly is now preparing to set up a market office, a security post and a daycare centre, said spokesman Isaac Odoom. It was a far cry from the typical eviction, where women sometimes arrive to work in the morning to find their kiosks destroyed and goods confiscated, said Ansah from WIEGO.

"There's a local saying that if you throw a frog, you don't care where it lands. So normally, that's what happens with evictions," said Kojo Anane, a programme officer at People's Dialogue.



"It's a good sign of the municipality understanding that they cannot continue to use force with the workers and that it pays to have engagement, it pays to discuss," said Dorcas Ansah, WIEGO's country coordinator.

Mumbai Corporation will soon have to take some lessons from this little success to the protesters and the protectors also.