Spotlight: Kantamanto Market
The market was named to honor Kwame Nkrumah, who was known for what "he said and did".
The name “Kantamanto” is an Akan word which means “one who does not break his promise”. The word is made up of three syllables: “Ka”, “Ntam”, and “anto”:
• Ka means “speak or say”
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• Ntam means “to swear or make a serious promise”
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• Anto means “does not go against”
The market was named to honor Kwame Nkrumah, who was known for what “he said and did”.
Kantamanto Market is a market area situated in the central business district of Accra. It is a well known market in Accra with a specialization in clothing resale. The site is an important part of the informal economy of the city. At its peak it was the largest used clothes market in West Africa.
The site received increasing international attention after sustainable fashion activists and journalists identified the market as one of the main receivers of imported unusable used clothing in the fast fashion industry. The market and its informal economy play an important role in the city’s economy.
There are over 30,000 traders in the market selling all kinds of wares from *used clothing to food to car spare parts.
Due to the congested nature of the market, when ever there is a fire outbreak the damage is always extensive with the destruction of good and structures running into several thousands of Cedis. There are no fire hydrants in the market making it almost impossible to refill fire tenders which run out of water during fires. A fire outbreak in the market occurred on Tuesday, 19 April 2011. Another fire erupted in the market in May 2013.
As the market gets increasingly congested, many traders have aired concerns ranging from expansion works to be done, improved fire safety to prevention of ejection.
The OR Foundation found that a fire was deliberately set by real estate development firm to part of the market in December 2020. The fire was part of a long series of fires at markets in Accra and the site had experienced a fire 10 months before.
In January 2025, a fire destroyed a significant portion of the market, displacing hundreds of traders.
Artist Sel Kofiga documents the cloth trade in the market through upcycling and mixed media art projects. Samuel Oteng organizes a similar upcycling company.
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The OR Foundation and artist/activist Liz Ricketts organized an anti-fashion waste art project called “Dead White Man’s Clothes” to examine the waste created by the textile import trade.
Source/References:
• african-research.com/research/origin-of-the-kantamanto-market-in-ghana/#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20Twi%20word,planned%2C%20that%20will%20I%20do%E2%80%9D
• Okoye, Victoria. “After Market Fire: Opportunity for Participatory Planning | Smart Cities Dive”. smartcitiesdive.com. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
• Heidger, Tara. “Fast fashion? No thanks. I care about our planet Earth”. news-decoder.com/. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
• “The Horrifying True Cost Of Fashion Fashion”. Marie Claire. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
• “Used clothes choke both markets and environment in Ghana”. Hindustan Times. 2022-01-06. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
• “Ghana’s Used Clothing Market Falters as COVID Bans, Poverty Intersect”. VOA. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
• Fire guts parts of Kantamanto Market | Citi Newsroom, retrieved 2022-04-22
• “Kantamanto fire outbreak: We’re not surprised, our market was set ablaze – Traders claim”. GhanaWeb. 2020-12-16. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
• “Fire destroys shops, wares at Kantamanto market”. Joy Online. April 20, 2011. Archived from the original on April 25, 2011.
• Oteng-Ababio, Martin; Sarfo, Kwadwo Ohene; Owusu-Sekyere, Ebenezer (June 2015). “Exploring the realities of resilience: Case study of Kantamanto Market fire in Accra, Ghana”. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 12: 311–318. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2015.02.005.
• “Kantamanto traders appeal for suspension of ejection by the GRDA”. ghanaweb.com.
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