The protest between Ghanaian and foreign retailers in the country may seem not to die anytime soon after another misunderstanding between the two groups sparked off between traders at Tiptoe Lane, located at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
The protest which started today on July 24, 2020, nearly led to a brawl but due to the timely intervention of police personnel and the President of Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), calm was restored.
The traders, numbering close to 200, massed up an array in red attire and armbands, amidst chanting in protest against the foreign retailers, who are mostly Nigerians.
This comes barely a few days after GUTA leadership warned of growing anger among its members over the reopening of foreign-owned shops for inspection of documents by the Presidential Committee on Retail Trade.
According to Section 27 of the GIPC Act 865:
“A person who is not a citizen or an enterprise which is not wholly-owned by a citizen, shall not invest or participate in the sale of goods or provision of services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place,”
One of the traders said:
“What we were made to understand was that the task force was to open the shops for them in order to assess their documents and understand the kind of trade the foreigner engages in. We will all agree that the laws do not permit for the foreigners to come into our markets and retail with us.”
Another Ghanaian trader also noted that:
“Petty trading is reserved for the locals, and we agree that ECOWAS trade laws allow for us to trade in other ECOWAS countries, but you do not engage in petty trading and compete with the locals. When you bring your wares, you can sell them in wholesale quantities to the citizens of the country who can later retail it, but you can’t do petty trading.”
Some Nigerian retailers who had their shops locked up by GUTA sometime last year later had them reopened to allow for a task force set up by the President, to assess their documents, permitting them to do business in Ghana.
But according to GUTA, though 90 per cent of the shops did not have the required documentation to engage in any form of trading activity in the country, they still decided to operate their businesses.
The protest on Friday, July 24, 2020, which was to precede the planned closure of the foreign-owned shops, almost became chaotic, when some of the angry traders from both sides nearly resorted to violence.
Calm could only be restored after the GUTA President, Dr. Joseph Obeng, also shared his sentiments over the issue.
“There’s no order in this country because of the non-enforcement of the law. We want the government to see what is happening here and make sure that the laws that are made in the country are made to work. We call on the government to make sure that the task force starts working. If the law exists, the law should work,” he stated.
He has, however, announced the suspension of a planned locking up of foreign-owned shops on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 by GUTA.
“The guys in this market are all brothers, they should not be divided over these issues. If the law works, nobody will argue about it. I am therefore calling off the intended nationwide closure of foreign shops on Wednesday, and I want all my members to listen to this. I want peace to prevail in this country, but while we are at it, the laws should work,” he reiterated.
