Tension is brewing between the tenants of Ghana’s foremost shopping destination, Accra Mall, and the management of the facility due to security reasons.
According to tenants at the mall, sales have dropped, following another ceiling collapsing at the popular retail centre.
The angry traders have therefore resolved to temporarily close their shops on Thursday, October 24, 2019.
Below is the full statement
TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF ACCRA MALL BY THE ACCRA MALL TENANTS ASSOCIATION
The Accra Mall Tenants
Association have taken the decision to temporarily close their shops on the 24th
of October, 2019.
This decision has been
taken to bring to the fore the onerous conditions under which they operate at
the mall.
The public would
recall that about a year ago, part of the ceiling in the mall collapsed and
this affected patronage at the mall as the public were rightly concerned about
their safety.
Before that section of
the ceiling could be fixed, another section of the ceilingat the Game entrance
also caved in after a heavy rainfall.
Both incidents hugely
affected patronage at the Mall which in turn led to a downward spiral of
revenue of the Tenants.
Despite numerous
protests and engagements with the management of the mall, nothing was done to
fix the ceiling until about a month ago when they began to fix the ceiling.
In order to fix the
ceiling, the management of the mall have erected scaffolding in the walkways of
the whole mall despite protestations from the tenants that this would rather
scare customers away.
The tenants proposed
that the scaffolds be erected at the sections where work was being done and
then moved to other sections of the ceiling rather than erecting the scaffolds
all over the walkway of the mall.
The management of the
mall however ignored the tenants concerns and persisted with erecting the
scaffolds with the result being that patronage to the mall has worsened leaving
the tenants in a worse position.
In addition to the
above, the tenants also raised concerns about the exorbitant rent and the lack of
promotional activities by management of the mall to improve revenue which
slumped due to their negligence in maintaining the mall leading to the collapse
of the ceiling.
In order to address
these concerns representatives of tenants met with representatives of the Accra
Mall landlords on or about the 26th of September, 2019 to address
issues of common interest. Among issues discussed at the said meeting included:
- The low patronage at
the mall due to the manner in which the ceiling repair works at the mall is
being done - The insufficient
number and deplorable condition of the washrooms at the mall - Insufficient marketing
activities to promote the mall and impact sales - A request for a
reduction in rent during the period of the renovation of the ceiling. - A general reduction in
rent across board
The management of the mall and the landlords
promised to address the concerns of the tenants two weeks after the said
meeting but failed to do so.
It is poignant to note
that as a result of the concerns raised by the tenants including the huge rent,
which have ultimately led to a slump in patronage and revenue, a huge number of
shops including multinationals from South Africa have closed shop and left the
mall.
The Tenants have therefore decided to take the bitter decision to close their shops on Thursday the 24th of October, 2019 between the hours of 9 am and 1pm to protect their huge investments and prevent the Accra Mall from suffering the same fate that the West hills mall is suffering.
Dr Emmanuel Maurice Ankrah
(KuukuaALegalConsulting)
