President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
In 2020, the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA) warned government not to review the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) law to favour foreign retail traders; especially, Nigerians.
GUTA said the GIPC law should rather be strengthened to protect Ghanaian traders.
This came after a delegation from Nigeria, led by the Speaker of the House of Representative, Femi Gbajabianmila, travelled to Ghana to meet President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the Ghana-Nigeria trade impasse.
Read the full story originally published on September 23, 2020 by ClassFM.
The Ashanti regional branch of the Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA) has called on the government not to review the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre law against retail trade, to favour foreign traders as requested by the Nigerian government.
The Ghanaian traders say the government will incur their wrath if it attempts to amend the GIPC law in favour of foreign traders.
About a month ago, a delegation from Nigeria, led by the Speaker of the House of Representative, Femi Gbajabianmila, came to Ghana and met with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the crackdown on foreigners engaged in illegal retailing business, especially Nigerians.
Mr Femi, during the meeting, proposed that the government revisit the GIPC law that requires a capital base of USD1 million for foreign traders to start a business in the country.
But speaking in an interview with Kumasi FM’s Elisha Adarkwah, the Regional Chairman of GUTA, Mr Anthony Oppong, said any attempt by the government to review the law will be an insult to Ghana’s Parliament, which enacted it and the Presidency that appended its signature to the law.
Mr Oppong said: “We consider it as an insult to our parliamentarians who enacted that law and to the presidency who assented its signature to that law. But there’s a reason for it.”
“The only thing sustaining Kumasi and Ashanti Region is the trading business going on here. If you allow foreigners to come and take over this business, what else will our people to do here?
“Like the good book says: ‘We should love our neighbours as ourselves’.”
He added: “The government must rather strengthen it to favour our local indigenes.”
The Ashanti Regional GUTA further said they will advise themselves if the law is amended in favour of the foreign traders as requested by the Nigerian government.