adminthe West African country’s retail sector.
Speaking to CAJ News, Guta president, George Ofori, said thousands of local Ghana small-to-medium enterprises were being fronted by Ghananians on behalf of foreigners, mainly Nigerians, Chinese, Indians and Somalis to penetrate business opportunities reserved for the locals.
Ofori, who towards the run-up to the Ghana presidential election successfully spearheaded the banning of all foreign traders doing business under SMEs earmarked for locals, argued that the government should act fast saying very soon locals would be pushed out of the market.
He said police and other state security agencies should arrest and prosecute Ghanaians who deliberately front for the foreigners to outwit the system.
Ofori said such Ghanaians were affecting the smooth operation of their businesses with those that coming from China, India and Nigeria.
“We therefore call upon the government, police and state security to help strictly enforce the law in order to stop the invasion of our business by foreigners, particularly in the retail business throughout the country.
“The laxity in the enforcement of the law has created the opportunity for the foreigners to do what they know is against the laws of the country, but are doing it because there seems to be no one interested in enforcing the law,” Ofori said. He quoted the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) Act 472 Section 18, which bars foreigners from engaging in retail business in any part of the country to advance his arguments.
“Specifically, the retail business within the metropolitan, municipal and districts has been reserved for us as Ghanaian traders and that must be followed,” he said.
Ofori was instrumental in 2012 when he met with the ministries of trade, economic planning and police to effect the banning of all foreigners doing business under retail.
He said as for Economic Community of West African States protocol, he observed that each and every country had its own rules regarding what foreigners in their country could do or not do at any particular time arguing that it was Ghana’s obligation to protect its people.
Last year, Guta, with the support of the heavily armed police went door-to-door in the streets of Accra driving all suspect foreign-owned business owners to close and leave the country, a move that received wide criticism from West Africa’s economic giant – Nigeria.
However, Ghana has revived efforts to completely ban all foreign nationals manipulating the systems through the fronting of locals in order to “invade” the business earmarked for the locals.
In line with its objective of promoting co-operation and integration as well as one step towards the creation of a common market which, according to the Ecowas Revised Treaty, should be established.
“This must be established through the liberalisation of trade by the abolition, among member states, of customs duties levied on imports and exports, and the abolition among member states, of non-tariff barriers in order to establish a free trade area at the community level,” Ofori said, quoting the Ecowas Trade Liberalisation Scheme.
Ofori also accused Nigeria for being the chief Ecowas member state that does not allow member states to export certain products into its country, a move he said intended to protect local industries which produce similar products in that country.
“But they are the ones who are here – well misbehaving and hiding behind the Ecowas treaty they do not respect,” Ofori fumed.
The outspoken Guta noted that for this to give true meaning to the ETLS, all countries must fully abide by it.
He said there was need for common policy that would cut across every member state that retail trading could be done by anybody from anywhere part of the Ecowas region. – CAJ News.
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