Kumasi Central Market — known today as **Kejetia Market** — is the beating commercial heart of Ashanti and the largest single market in West Africa, a sprawling city-within-a-city in the middle of Kumasi where tens of thousands of traders sell everything from yam and plantain to gold jewellery, cloth, herbs, and imported electronics. **The old market.** The original Kumasi Central Market grew up organically around the old railway station and the Kejetia lorry terminal from the colonial era onward. Over the decades it became legendary for its density — an estimated 10,000-plus traders packed into narrow lanes, with whole sections devoted to specific trades: the *Adum* side for textiles and gold, the northern edge for foodstuffs, the lorry park end for travellers' goods. It was famously chaotic, famously cheap, and famously impossible to fully explore in one day. **The Kejetia Redevelopment.** Because the old market had outgrown its infrastructure — poor drainage, fire risk, congestion — the government under Nana Akufo-Addo commissioned the **Kejetia Market Redevelopment Project**, a modern multi-storey complex built in phases. Phase One, a three-storey structure with thousands of lockable stores, was commissioned in **2019** by the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and President Akufo-Addo. Phase Two, which extends the complex and adds more trading space and parking, has been the subject of continued construction and political attention since. The redeveloped market is managed under the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) with trader associations playing a strong role in allocation of stores. **What you find there.** Kejetia is organised by trade clusters — *nwomkwa* (herbal medicine) sellers, *kente* and *ntoma* cloth merchants, goldsmiths, bead sellers, foodstuff wholesalers, second-hand clothing (*obroni wawu*), cosmetics, and provisions. It is also a major transport hub: the Kejetia lorry terminal connects Kumasi to virtually every corner of Ghana. **Cultural weight.** In Akan terms, Kejetia is where the Ashanti economy breathes — the market is tied to the Asantehene's Kumasi and to the *Adae* and *Akwasidae* festival cycles, when traders and chiefs converge. There's an old Akan saying that fits: *"Ɛnyɛ obiara na ɔnim Kejetia"* — not everyone knows Kejetia — because even lifelong Kumasi residents discover new corners of it. **Practical tips if you're going.** Go early morning (6–9am) for fresh foodstuffs and cooler temperatures; carry small cash (MoMo is increasingly accepted but not universal); wear closed shoes; and if you're buying gold or kente, go with someone who knows the trade to avoid inflated "obroni price." If you want, I can break down a specific section — the gold market, the kente stalls, the foodstuff wholesale area, or how to get there from the Kejetia terminal.