Task force to enforce retail trade laws

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) is to dispatch a 13-member task force to the various markets in the country to ensure the enforcement of laws on retail trading.

The task force will comprise representatives from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Ghana Police Service (GPS), the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and MOTI.

The members will, among other responsibilities, determine whether the right duties have been paid on textiles that are being sold on the market, ensure the functionality and operation of the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) Law and respond to some of the concerns of GUTA that are legitimate.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Trade and Industry, disclosed this at a news conference in Accra yesterday to give an update on measures that had been taken to meet the demands of GUTA.

The decision by the ministry follows a four-day strike undertaken by members of GUTA from June 23 to register their displeasure at the invasion of retail trading by foreigners.

Foreign retail trade

Mr Iddrisu said the government frowned on foreign retail trading in the country.

He emphasised that Ghana’s laws did not permit a non-Ghanaian or non-citizen to engage in the business of retail trading within the Ghanaian market.

The ministry, he said, also strongly upheld the provision of the  law, in accordance with Act 865 of the GIPC Law,  2013, stressing that the sale of goods and the provision of services in the market, petty trading, hawking, selling of goods in a store or at any place were exclusive preserves of Ghanaians.

“The operation of a taxi or a car hire service in an enterprise is also exclusively reserved for Ghanaians. The operation of a beauty salon or a barbering shop is also exclusively reserved for Ghanaians,” he said.

ECOWAS laws

However, Mr Iddrisu said the ministry recognised its obligations under ECOWAS and its deep commitment to promote regional trade and intra and inter-trade among member states in the sub-region.

He said Ghana also remained very open to foreign businesses and foreign investors “but we are certainly not inviting petty traders into our economy”.

He indicated that under ECOWAS protocols, there were minimum capital requirements that were to be obliged by member states, saying, “We expect other ECOWAS citizens to honour and fulfill these protocols.”

Fronting for foreigners

Tackling the issue of Ghanaians who were aiding and abetting foreigners to infringe the GIPC law, Mr Iddrisu said it was an offence, under the GIPC Act, to let out a store to a foreigner for the purposes of petty and retail trading within the Ghanaian market.

He said traders were guilty of such actions and, therefore, if they wanted the government’s cooperation and support, “they must desist from those compromising attitudes”.

He pledged that the new task force on retail trade would be effective, saying, “I will uphold the law to the letter.”