Ghanaian retail traders clash with Nigerian counterparts at Circle

Some members of the Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA) on Friday, July 24, 2020, clashed with Nigerian traders who are operating illegally at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle despite GUTA’s directive for them to remain closed until they provide legal documents.

The scuffle once again was about the infiltration of foreigners into Ghana’s retail business which by law is a reserve of only Ghanians or foreigners with proper documentation.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, President of the Association, Dr Joseph Obeng explained that the action of his members was due to a planned legal demonstration on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 which has since been postponed by the Association.

The cancellation of the demonstration comes after GUTA executives met with the Trades Ministry on Thursday, July 23, 2020, to deliberate on the matter which is raising tension in the country.

“They are demonstrating because GUTA called off a nationwide closure of foreigners’ shop on Wednesday. The national executives of GUTA met and decided to close down all recalcitrant illegal foreigners’ shops on Wednesday. But because the Trade Minister met with us yesterday and assured us that we should allow the task force to work, we are pleading with our members to respect the directives of the minister and we have confidence in authority so they should not carry out the intended closure of the shops,” Dr Obeng stated.

GUTA on Tuesday authorised all foreign retail traders who are working illegally at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to immediately cease operations.

According to GUTA, 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, Dr Obeng said showed that almost 90 percent of them did not meet the requirements needed to operate in the country.