'Close your shops now!' – GUTA orders illegal foreign retail traders at Circle

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has authorised all foreign retail traders who are working illegally at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to immediately cease operations.

According to the President of Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, these illegal foreign traders have refused to close their shops after the Committee on Foreign Retail Trade embarked on a three-day exercise to cross-check their documents.

The documents presented, he said showed that almost 90 per cent of them did not meet the requirements needed to operate in the country.

“It has come to our notice that the illegal foreign retail traders have blatantly refused to close their shops after the committee on Foreign Retail Trade in the country had opened for inspection of their documents and ordered them close the shops back…We have been briefed by the committee on Foreign Retail Trade that over 90% of the foreigners have not met the requirements. Almost all ECOWAS member traders operating in the country are guilty of the rules of origin as stated in the ECOWAS protocols, which means that they do not trade goods manufactured in their respective countries”.

“We will not countenance anything on the contrary and as a result, we demand the immediate closure of those shops to avoid any unfortunate situation, as tension is mounting on the matter,” Dr Obeng stressed in a press statement copied to GhanaWeb.

GUTA's call for these shops to close down is based on section 27 of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act 865, which bars foreigners from engaging in retail business in Ghana.