She Just Wanted to Sell Food—Now She's a Convict: Inside the First Case at Accra's New Sanitation Court”
-I didn’t expect to feel so weirdly conflicted watching the news that morning. I was just reheating leftover jollof and scrolling through WhatsApp statuses when the headline popped up: “New AMA Sanitation Court Convicts Food Vendor.”
I froze. Not because I knew her—but because I could have.
You see, back in uni, there was this woman named Aunty Dede who sold waakye behind our hostel. Her bench was always wobbly, and her plastic bowls didn’t have lids half the time. But God, her food slapped. We all knew it probably didn’t meet any “official” hygiene standard—but it fed us when we were broke, hungry, and desperate.
That memory hit me as I saw the story unfold on JoyNews. A female food vendor—name withheld—had become the first ever conviction at the newly established Accra Metropolitan Assembly Sanitation and Motor Court. Her crime? Selling food in “unhygienic conditions.” The court fined her GH¢1,200.
Honestly, I had mixed feelings. Because, yeah, cleanliness is crucial. No one wants typhoid in their tilapia. But I kept wondering… was this woman just like Aunty Dede? Hustling. Feeding a community. Doing what she could with what she had?
And more importantly—is this how we fix sanitation?
-The AMA sanitation court is a big deal. I get that. It’s meant to finally tackle the mess we’ve all been pretending not to see: overflowing gutters, mystery meat on street corners, kids selling water sachets right next to open drains. It’s not just about food—it’s about dignity, health, the future of Accra.
But here’s what nags at me: Why do we always start with the smallest people?
This woman—this unnamed vendor—didn’t build Accra’s failing drainage system. She didn’t approve the market stall design. She didn’t cut corners on sanitation budgets. She just woke up, probably at 4am, to cook. To survive. To feed us.
Yet she’s the one with a criminal record now.
-I’m not saying let people sell food on top of sewage. Obviously, there have to be rules. We’ve lost too many lives already to cholera, typhoid, and the rest. But I guess I’m asking—where’s the balance?
Couldn’t we start with education first? Sanitation training programs? Subsidized equipment for vendors? Even just—a warning?
In my experience, the people selling food on the streets aren’t doing it because it’s fun or easy. They’re doing it because rent is hell, jobs are scarce, and kids need to eat. Criminalizing them without giving them alternatives feels… wrong. Like slapping a plaster on a broken pipe.
(Also, has anyone ever fined a minister for unsanitary party setups? Or a big-name restaurant caught using tap water to wash lettuce in a water crisis? Just saying.)
-The AMA might be proud of this “first conviction,” but I honestly don’t know how to feel.
Part of me wants to cheer—because yes, let’s fix this mess. Let’s make Accra a city we can be proud of. But the other part of me aches for that woman. I imagine her walking out of that courtroom, her dignity in pieces, her business under threat, her kids probably asking her, “Mummy, what happened?”
And maybe that’s the question we all need to sit with: What are we really trying to clean up?
The city… or our conscience?
-Your Turn:
What do you think?
Should food vendors face criminal charges for poor hygiene?
Or is there a better, more humane way to tackle this issue?
Let me know. Maybe we don’t have all the answers—but we’ve got to start asking better questions.
-Keywords used naturally throughout: AMA sanitation court, Accra food vendor, poor hygiene conditions, Ghana sanitation issues, food safety in Accra, street food regulation, AMA court conviction, sanitation enforcement in Ghana.