Leo in Burkina Faso is a municipal capital city of the Sissili Province and is located in the Southern part of Burkina Faso.
Leo market has been the center of attraction to traders especially Ghanaians for decades now.
The animal market in Leo has been a major source of animals to Ghanaian markets, especially livestock, cattle, and donkeys.
Traders in these aforementioned animals from Accra, Kumasi, Sunyani, Techiman, Wa, Tumu, and Gwollu and their environs all ply their trades in Leo Market every Friday.
The busiest day of the Leo market falls on Friday even though it starts on Wednesday evening and ends on Saturday.
The animal market is usually more populated when it is near the festive seasons such as Christmas and Sanlah.
The price of an animal depends on its size, breed, gender, and even the season in the Leo market. An average goat goes for Ghc 500 and above, an average cow goes for Ghc 2,500.00 and above, and so forth.
It is, therefore no surprise to many when the Burkinabe government decided to relocate the animal market on the way to the Ghana border and refurbish and secure the safekeeping of the products.
The market is structured into metallic compartments and in sections since there are different animals traded in there.
The animal market comes with a wash facility such as toilets, urinals, and water sourced from solar-powered mechanized boreholes.
There is also a built compost site where refuse generated in the market is dumped and later used as manure for farming. There are sheds hosting eateries, fruit sellers, sachet water sellers, grilled meat sellers, and others.
In terms of revenue generation to the government of Burkina Faso, every animal sold attracts a toll of 100 CFA and A Ghanaian equivalent of almost Ghc 1.00, and even more than this amount is paid by the sellers in the market per head.
There is job creation for children who get hold of the animals in ropes as well as feed them, women sell food and animal feeds, men sell ropes and animal feeds too. Other people are contracted to do the selling for a commission for each sale.
Unbeknownst to many people and the government of Ghana, in recent times, many of the animals sold in the Leo market originate from Ghana especially the Sisaala area spanning from Kundugu, Yaala Funsi in the Wa East District, then Bawiesibelle, Nabulo, Yigantu, Dolibizon, Nabugujan, Bujan, Santie, Jijen areas in the Sisaala East Municipal, Dasima, Dajan, Tiwii, Gwollu areas all in the Upper West region of Ghana.
There is an improvised animal market in the Bujan community in the Sisaala East Municipality in the Upper West Region. Leftovers of animals sold in the Bujan market on Thursdays are sent to the Leo market on Fridays.
One would be compelled to ask how seriously the Ghana government and its subsidiary bodies such as District and Municipal Assemblies close the border such as Sisaala East and Sisaala West which are all about 35 minutes drive away from the Leo Animal market within Burkina Faso.
What is preventing Sisaala and Sisaala West from establishing similar markets either in Tumu and along the Leo road or Kupulima also along the Leo road?
Isn’t it high time the government used revenue mobilization as a bench for the performance of the various MMDCEs?
The overreliance on the central government for the various MMDCEs is inimical to our development and hence the need to have a thought on it.
By: Ayamga Bawa Fatawu
Travel Writer
Photojournalist
upperwestmedia.net 
Leave a Reply