TRADERS AT the border town of Elubo in the Western Region have threatened fire and brimstone if the government does not stop a Lebanese company, Diplo FZ Limited, from opening a duty-free shop near the security fence wall and within the ‘no man’s land’ area at the border.
They have vowed that hell will break loose at Elubo if the government, in conjunction with the national security, gives the Lebanese company the green light to open the shop because its operation will collapse indigenous businesses, breed smuggling and increase other subversive activities at the border.
“If the government wants to see Elubo become a ghost town, then it should encourage the Lebanese interest to supersede the interest of the indigenous Ghanaian traders,” they claimed.
Addressing a press conference at Elubo last Thursday, the secretary of the Elubo Traders Association, Evans Ampomah Dacosta, noted that the Lebanese intended to sell the same products being sold by the indigenous traders at Elubo.
He said since the prices of the products at the Lebanese shop would be cheaper than those being sold at the Elubo market, most of the customers would stop buying from the local market and this would collapse the businesses of the local people.
He mentioned that in 1998, a certain foreign company started building a structure outside the security fence wall at the border but when the national security was alerted, the project was stopped and that the uncompleted structure was still sitting behind the security fence wall.
He, however, wondered why the state security did not prevent the Lebanese from putting up their duty-free shop at a place described as ‘a no go area’ at the Elubo border.
He indicated that if the Lebanese shop was allowed to operate behind the security fence wall, the Ivorians would no longer come to Elubo to shop.
He said even though the construction of the Lebanese shop at the Elubo security zone started during the regime of the previous government in 2007, it had to be stopped by the then National Security Coordinator, Francis Poku, on the grounds that it was a threat to national security.
Mr. Ampomah Dacosta alleged that when the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over power, it allowed the Lebanese to complete the shop, adding that the shop would soon open to customers mostly from Ivory Coast. He noted that this could cripple local businesses and bring untold hardship on Ghanaians in that part of the country.
He said that Diplo FZ, which metamorphosed from Forwin Ghana Limited, was operating at Elubo as a wholesaler of assorted drinks about four years ago but currently sells almost everything including tomato paste, mobile phones, matchsticks and black thread for plaiting hair, among others.
The secretary of the Elubo Traders Association pointed out that people would also be inconvenienced if the shop was allowed to operate because it was constructed directly on a pedestrian walk way.
“Indeed if a Ghanaian will not be allowed to build a shop near the Lebanese border in Lebanon, then why should the national security encourage the Lebanese to build at a security zone,” he asked.
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