GUTA castigates government over foreign invasion of retail trade

The Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA) has castigated government for not showing enough commitment to fighting the influx of foreigners taking over retail business in the country.

“Unfortunately, we do not see any commitment on the part of the government and its agencies like the GIPC to fight the situation, because we all know that foreigners are engaged in retail and yet the ministry says we should provide evidence,” Benjamin Yeboah, Executive Member of GUTA told the B&FT.

The union has been under pressure from its rank and file who are livid no practical solution is coming out of the many engagements with government.

“We have also written two letters to the GIPC to give us audience but they have not replied. So it means they are not showing any commitment to fight the influx of these foreigners in our markets,” Benjamin Yeboah said.

The country has put an albatross around its neck by legislating, via the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act, 2013, that, a non-citizen should invest not less than US$1 million in cash or goods, before they can engage in the purchase and sale of goods.

Lack of enforcement has, however, meant that foreigners, without the stated investment, are competing with citizens in retail trade in the central business districts and in the markets of the country, particularly the Makola market in particular.

The Trade and Industry Ministry, has been asking the agitated local traders to produce evidence that the foreign traders do not have the stated capital.

The provision in the GIPC Act was meant to protect local traders from foreign invasion while encouraging foreigners to engage in large scale commercial activities which would spur economic growth.

Benjamin Yeboah stated that the inaction of GIPC compelled them to forward their grievances to the Trade Ministry but that they were told to provide evidence of the invasion of foreigners.

This, Mr. Yeboah argues, provides a clear indication that government is not ready to help fight for local traders as it is common knowledge that foreign traders are competing unduly with local traders, a situation he believes is a threat to national security.

“And the danger is that as we speak most of our members are losing their shops to these foreigners. Because the foreigners have the financial muscle they are able to pay huge amounts demanded by shop owners, whereas the local traders are unable to pay. And this is a very dangerous trend because it is pushing them out of business…and this can push them to take a different action,” Mr. Yeboah noted.

GUTA is therefore calling on government to act quickly to avoid any unlawful actions from the local traders who are losing their livelihoods to foreign traders.