Accra - A storm is brewing in Ghana with local traders reviving threats to eject foreign traders, including those from neighbouring fellow members of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).
On Thursday, ANA-CAJ News reported from Kigali that business and political leaders in Kenya and Rwanda were welcoming the launch of mobile money services between the two countries as barriers to cross-border trade continue to fall in East Africa.
But, on the other side of the continent, the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) is ready to take action over what it claims is the violation of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act 2013, legislation designed to protect local traders.
The Act decrees all enterprises with foreign links operating in the country must register with the GIPC, the government agency responsible for the promotion of investments in the West African country. Replacing a similar, 15-year-old Act, it aims, among other things, to protect Ghanaian entrepreneurs from unbridled competition from foreign businesses in the country.
Last year, GUTA and the Ministry of Trade and Industry tried to eject all foreigners operating in the Ghanaian market. This led to the establishment of an inter-agency task force designed to enforce the GIPC Act, which authorises petty trading as the sole prerogative of Ghanaians.
Despite these efforts foreign nationals have continued to operate in the country. Some observers blame frustration among locals on the wider causes of the country’s waning economic fortunes, characterised by reduced direct foreign investment, rising unemployment and a struggling local currency, and with the IMF predicting the country’s economic growth could fall to as low as 3.5 percent this year.
The president of GUTA, George Ofori, however, is among those who direct their anger at foreign traders. He insists the plans to stop foreign entrepreneurs owning firms in the country’s retail sector were justified. The union has the backing of local entrepreneurs and informal traders but, of course, workers employed in the foreign-owned establishments are opposed to such moves.
Kwame Amoah, who works for one of the foreign-owned shops around the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in central Accra, said if the foreign traders, including many Nigerians, Malians, Indians, Lebanese, Chinese and Syrians, were ejected local workers would suffer.
“Through their businesses, we have secured employment. So, if anyone asks them to pack and go, our source of income will be cut and our livelihoods affected. We won’t sit back and allow the government, through pressure from GUTA, to starve us,” said Amoah.
Similarly, Naa Adjeley, who buys goods from an Indian firm for resale, said the eviction of the foreign business people would spell doom for her and two daughters.
“Because of the Indian company’s help I am able to pay my young daughters’ school fees,” Adjeley, who is a widow, said. “I am prepared to protest against anybody who wants to eject foreign traders operating in the country’s retail sector.”
Get out
Kwesi Asare, a mobile phones and accessories dealer in Accra’s business district, on the other hand, called on the government to expel foreign traders. He accused some foreign traders of conniving with landlords to eject Ghanaian businesses and give premises to foreign traders at a higher rental. Asare further alleged that some of the foreign companies were evading payment of taxes to the detriment of development projects in the country.
Abdul Karim, another local businessman, shared similar sentiments: “The government must be bold and eject illegal foreign businesses who continue contravening the GIPC Act.”
Meanwhile, various foreign traders interviewed said they were prepared to register their businesses with the GIPC. Ameka Chiboyuh, a mobile phone dealer at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, said he and his colleagues were going to register with the GIPC “very soon”.
Some foreign businesses have complained that the new Act makes their operations unfeasible, but Augustine Otoo, director for research and business development at the GIPC, insists that it provides flexibility and will, in fact, attract more companies into the country, where foreign direct investment has been on the decline for the past few years.
ANA-CAJ NEWS