Abossey Okai spare parts dealers to demonstrate against government

Abossey Okai Spare parts Dealers Association in Accra is urging government through the Trade and Industry Ministry to with all urgency enforce the laws of the land which prohibits foreigners in retailing or face their wrath.

Last week, there were reports that some Nigerian spare parts shops were closed down in Kumasi by the Ghana Union of Traders Association( GUTA) leading to the picketing of Nigerians in Abuja at the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria where they petitioned the ECOWAS over the action taken by the spare parts dealers in Kumasi.

But speaking to ATV News, some dealers at the Abossey Okai spare parts market bemoaned the seeming weakness of government agencies to enforce the law. They cautioned that, should the necessary steps not be taken to address the influx of foreigners, especially Nigerians in retailing inferior and cheaper spare parts, they will take matters into their own hands.

The chairman of the Spare Parts association Mr. Ampadu Siaw, in a phone interview on ATV’s Anopa Bosuo said, “We are going to be fighting, we will go to parliament and stage a demonstration. They pay lower duties on their goods than we do and hide behind the ECOWAS protocol and transport their wares to this country. Then they come and sell it at higher prices to you on wholesale but sell it cheaper on retail. No Ghanaian should let out his or shop these foreigners to retail because it is against the law”

Francis Anom who is co-chairman of the Association and was a guest on the show, revealed how GUTA members in Kumasi were able to uncover the dubious means by which the Nigerians evade tax. He said, GUTA in Kumasi discovered that most of the tax and Municipal Assembly receipts the Nigerian Traders had displayed on their shops were duplicates and not originals. He explained that “instead of individual shop owners paying taxes, one pays income tax and make photocopies to be displayed on his friends’ shops. The relevant agencies and agents in Kumasi could not detect this, it took GUTA to fish these things out when they went round”.

Mr. Anom further revealed that most of the goods sold by the Nigerians are inferior and even though there are laws which state that foreigners can only sell on a wholesale basis, the Nigerians do not adhere to it. They load articulators full of parts and drive through our borders especially through unapproved routes and sell them cheaply” he said.

He reiterated that if government does not sit up and make sure the laws on trade work, his outfit will close down all the retail shops of foreigners in Abossey Okai.