Limit car imports to protect us – Kantanka

The General Manager of Kantanka Automobile Company, Francis Kojo Kujoji, has urged government to grant tax exemptions to local automobile industries in order to help them thrive.

According to him, such a paradigm shift in policy direction, will help boost exploits of indigenous automobile firms.

Speaking in an interview with Class News’ Jerry Akornor on the sidelines of the opening of Kantanka Automobile Showroom Servicing and Support Centre in Accra, on Friday, 3 August 2018, Mr Kujoji further called on government to formulate a policy to limit importation of used cars into Ghana.

He said: “In Nigeria, they increased the duty on the importation of cars by 100 per cent, so, it has discouraged the importation of cars and has increased local manufacturing of cars and creating jobs for them.

“We can do the same thing, Japan did that, China did that, Korea did that and now we are seeing Japan and Korean cars all over our streets, we can do the same policy. From the start that is what we have to do. If we don’t do it that way, we’ll kill Kantanka like the way in 1972 Nissan was here and Nissan died”.

The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, speaking at the event, urged Ghanaians to patronise products of local automobile industries.

According to him, patronage and granting tax exemptions for infant local automobile industries was critical to enabling them to thrive.