Govt orders suspension of Anti-Piracy Textile task force

The government has ordered the immediate suspension of the Anti-Piracy Textile Task Force established by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to clamp down the rising sale of pirated textiles on the Ghanaian market.

The new twist described by the Textile Workers Union as unfortunate, followed a clash between members of the 17-member task force and some traders at Makola, in the Central Business District (CBD) in Accra this week.

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, announced the new directive when he met with the textile retailers at the Makola Market.

Earlier, during an interaction with President John Mahama and the Minister of Gender and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, the Greater Accra Regional Market Queen, Madam Mercy Needjan, appealed to the President to intervene in the seizure of their textiles, since the traders were losing their livelihood.

Consequently, the President announced the immediate suspension of the work of the task force and gave the traders a three-month moratorium to learn to decipher between the pirated textiles and the genuine ones.

Riding on the back of the President’s directive, Nii Vanderpuije announced the suspension of the work of the task force.