News:
December 7, 2019
Deputy Ranking on the Committee of Trade and Industry, and Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana has said Nigerians are welcomed to stay in Ghana and trade but would have to obey Ghanaian laws when it come to retail trade reserved for Ghanaians.
According to Yusif Sulemana, the issue of exchange between Ghanaian traders and Nigerian traders in Ghana has lingered on for quite some time now.
Over six hundred shops belonging to Nigerians at Kwame Nkrumah Circle was locked up by members of Ghana Union of Traders Association, GUTA.
He noted that, the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government did something about it in 2013 with amendment to the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) Act.
“We are told ECOWAS protocol conflict with our Act, which is not true, in international business safe guide is apply to the local indigenous business person, as a result of activities of foreigners”.
He further pointed out that GUTA is acting because government is not acting the way they should, the reason for the misunderstanding between Ghanaian retail businesses and their Nigerian counterpart.
“Nigerians are not leaving in Asia, they are in ECOWAS, they have closed their borders to importation of banned foreign rice; all we are saying is that Ghanaian laws within the GIPS Act should be respected”.
He noted that local traders in Ghana register their business before they operate in the market places, and foreigners not Nigerians alone would have to obey our local laws, he told journalists in an interview on the recent brouhaha between GUTA members and their Nigerian counterparts.
Ghanaian traders are complaining saying cost of renting a warehouse and shops have not been easy. “This has to do with the influx of foreigners, the cost of doing business is high”.
Ghanaians are being pushed out of business, most of them are finding it difficult to survive, we are not saying they should take the law into their hands but government must come in to deal with the situation, he added.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com