Music marketing groups are a nuisance to residents of the twin-city of Sekondi-Takoradi.
These groups use vehicles on which they have mounted giant public address systems and play music so loudly to attract patronage to the discomfort of the residents. A typical example is a Nissan Urvan mini-bus with registration number GW 7206 X, which operates in the central business district of the twin-city.
There are also many other KIA trucks and saloon cars that have adopted the same strategy to sell their video and musical cassettes, resulting in unnecessary traffic.
The noisy activities of these mobile vans are such that when they drive through the streets, people in offices find it very difficult to communicate.
Some of the vans deliberately park behind some schools and play loud music to distract the students and pupils as well as their teachers, thereby disrupting academic work.
Apart from the noise, the drivers of these vans have no regard for other vehicles when they stop at designated bus stops to market their wares and also create heavy traffic jams.
An electrician, Wofa Yaw, said any time a van drove past his shop, he and his boys were compelled to halt all communication because they could hardly hear anything.
“ Interestingly, the vans move at a slow pace and we have to endure the noise. If the city authorities are aware of this, they must act and stop the nuisance now,” he said.
Some teachers also expressed similar sentiments and called for the enforcement of the law on noise making, since the activities of the mobile marketing vans were a nuisance.
Antie Alice, a trader, said some of the boys who sold the CDs on the vans enter their shops and sold to their customers. She asked, “How can I have a shop and when you are also selling you just enter my shop to sell your wares?”
The salesboys on the minibuses usually hang onto them dangerously as they move round.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Mr John Laste, said there were by-laws indicating the noise that one could generate at a particular place.
According to the by-law, “No audio cassette, compact disc or other forms of recorded musical products shall be produced, engineered or sold in any place unless the place has been inspected, approved and licensed by the assembly.”
Mr Laste explained that this was necessary because the assembly needed to ensure that the activities of such people did not create any inconvenience for others.
He said the by-law further states that in all premises for the production or sale of musical products, there should be a sound-proof room which should be equipped with such instruments or gadgets that can eliminate any unnecessary loud noise which will be a nuisance to the public.
He said it was also an offence under the by-law for any religious institution to play music at any place beyond 10p.m. even if the place had approval to do so, stressing that the mobile vendors were acting illegally.
Mr Laste said the assembly had noticed such activities and reminded people that under the law, offenders could be arrested and fined.
The public relations officer said it was very important for people to anticipate the end result of their actions and that even without the by-law they should know that their action was wrong.
He said those mobile vans aside, itinerant preachers at the various markets within the CBD were also flouting the by-law, hiding under the cover of the Gospel.
He called on the people who had business plans and wanted to adopt various strategies to market their products to be mindful of their actions.
“Everybody has the right to go about their business activities but that does not give anybody the right to let his or her mode of operation become a problem for others,” Mr Laste said.
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