The Nigeria Union of Traders Association, Ghana (NUTAG) has made an open appeal to President Nana Akufo-Addo to immediately intervene in its ongoing brawl with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).
NUTAG says it has endured enough of what it describes as the consistent harassment of its members since 2007.
According to the Association, President Akufo-Addo must intervene for a re-look at the laws GUTA takes advantage of to harass them.
NUTAG and GUTA have been having running battles over the local retail space as the Ghanaian traders push for the enforcement of Ghana’s laws that prohibit foreigners from engaging in retail trade.
Local retailers in parts of Accra and Kumasi have in recent times locked up the foreign-owned shops, preventing the foreigners from going about their business.
But President of the Ghana Chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization, Ogbonna Kaycey told Citi News that the President’s immediate attention is needed to stop the chaos.
He stated: “I can say that GUTA doesn’t speak for most likely 70 percent of Ghanaian traders and most likely 90 percent of Ghanaian consumers. They are trying to get themselves to be a terrorist organization. Whatever they are doing is not in the best interest of Ghana. Ghanaians don’t support it.”
“So I think it’s high time the government looks at the activities and know how to consult them. The government should call them to order and then revisit some of the provisions of the law that they take advantage of to promote this hate agenda.”
Nigerian traders appeal for amendment of GIPC law
The President of NUTAG, Chief Chukwuemeka Nnaji, in a Citi News interview, appealed to the government of Ghana to review the country’s trade laws.
Act 865 of the law gives specific provisions that relate to how persons who are not citizens can engage in trading, including retail trade.
Section 27(1) of the act states that any person who is not a citizen or an enterprise that is not wholly-owned by a citizen shall not invest or take part in the sale of goods or provision of services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place.
Meanwhile, members of the GUTA have vowed to continue locking up the shops of foreigners until the laws that bar them from engaging in retail trade are enforced.
According to a member of the Association, both authorities and the foreigners should brace themselves for more of such closures if they fail to do the right thing.
