Six Months After Kantamanto Market Fire, Traders Still Feel the Burn Amid Ghana’s Economic Challenges

William Kesse, one of the affected traders who spoke with OkayAfrica in January, lost four shops and a warehouse in the fire. Kesse's business is in footwear. In the fire, he lost 800 pairs of shoes and 30,000 Ghana cedis ($2,870) worth of goods he had purchased just the day before. In the initial aftermath of the incident, Kesse was optimistic that things would return to normal in at least three months.

But it's been a little over six months since that uneventful fire, and vendors on the ground in Kantamanto say they are still feeling the burn.

"It was a real disaster," George Kwaku Dankwa, a thrift trader who also sells ready-made clothing and sneakers, tells OkayAfrica about the enduring impact of the fire. "It negatively impacted my life from grace to grass. I lost everything I worked hard for in the past seven years."

In Kantamanto, Dankwa says the mood is bittersweet, because while some traders have managed to rebuild after the fire, many are still "Facing ongoing difficulties and challenges in their progress." While Saturdays see a rise in patronage, weekdays are much slower.

Benjamin Miah, the owner of clothing brands Mask_Off and Rows Ambition and a trader at Kantamanto, says many traders are still seeking finance to restart their slumbering businesses. Miah himself lost businesses and shops during the fire. "I've lost customers as I used to supply artists with clothes. I also had modelling trainees who have now signed with other brands because I lost everything to the fire."

Right after the fire, which the Ghana National Fire Service said could have been caused by faulty electrical connections or arson, traders like Kesse began to reconstruct their mostly wooden stalls in a bid to salvage whatever business they had left. Officials at the time had warned against any hasty reconstructions, but traders say they were in an impossible situation. Their lives depended on their businesses. The goal was to jump-start the market's vibrant energy and get back to business as usual. But the journey to Kantamanto's former glory remains slow, plagued by financial difficulties, a sluggish economy, and declining foot traffic.

The Revival is a non-profit that tackles waste and addresses sustainability concerns through community-driven fashion initiatives, including upcycling practices, education, and employment opportunities. The organisation works closely with traders in Kantamanto and considers the market as a strong backbone for its work, where it transforms textile waste into sustainably produced fashion products. With the fire affecting several aspects of the market, the organisation has also taken people working in Kantamanto under its wings. One of them is the Kayayeis (women and girls who work as head porters in markets), who Boison says are now mostly out of work.

"A lot of these women migrated from the north of Ghana to seek greener pastures," Boison explains. Even though these women are not traders, their livelihoods depend on the traders in Kantamanto, whom they assist with the bales of clothing they import. But with closed shops and slow business, "It means they don't have bales of clothing to carry around from where they get stipends."

As the decline in business persists, many of these women are helping out at The Revival. "Some help us in the studio to design and make clothes. We are trying to see if they can acquire some skill sets so they can do something when there's no work in the market," Boison says.

Boison also notes that, in addition to the financial difficulties that have stopped many traders from returning to the market, the quality of goods sold at the market has declined. "There has been a drop in the quality of goods that have been coming."

As the largest secondhand market in the world, Kantamanto has been at the center of environmental waste concerns. Most discarded outfits from fast fashion brands end up in this market. According to The Observatory of Economic Complexity, by importing $121 million worth of used clothes in 2023, Ghana became the eighth-largest importer of used clothes globally.

When traders in Kantamanto receive imported clothing in bales, they often find a few pieces ruined by discoloration or poor quality, making them unsellable. That discarded clothing ends up in landfills and soon in the seas. Boisson notes that there is an increase in unsellable clothing, resulting in a decline in quality and making it harder for customers to return to the market, which is known for its quality and affordable secondhand fashion goods.

The goal, though, is to see this tough period through. Creatives and collectives like Boison are finding artistic ways to bring people back to the market and revive its former glory. Photographer and fashion creative Alhassan Fatawu, who draws inspiration from Kantamanto and its surrounding neighborhoods, like Old Fadama, staged an exhibition this month in Kantamanto. "I wanted people to come in and check out the market. The goal is to raise awareness of Kantamanto and interact with the traders."

And for traders like Miah, the only option is to start over again. "Which is just hard to imagine," he says. "It is so challenging to reach somewhere in your dream and lose everything in a day. Aside from that, I had orders to supply clothes to some customers within the week the fire occurred. Now, I have lost the clothes and the money, and I still have to pay back these customers for their orders. How am I going to do that as I'm virtually left with nothing?"

Traders and creatives who rely on the market in one way or another say the best way to support is by directly assisting those affected. Government relief hasn't done much, Dankwa says. Donations from the President left shop owners with 125 Ghana Cedis ($24), and many of the affected shops, built with wood, aren't covered by insurance.

Donating to rebuilding efforts, patronising, and encouraging patronage are all ways to support Kantamanto traders in their efforts to bring the market back to its former glory. As Dankwa puts it, "Every small effort can help."