The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has slammed the proposed Ghana-Nigeria Friendship Act, which could ease restrictions on Nigerians within the trade sector in Ghana.
In a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Tuesday, GUTA’s president, Dr. Joseph Obeng, said easing restrictions for Nigerians will kill Ghanaian traders.
“If they [Nigerians] are coming to stay here, take our markets and all that, then we are dead,” Dr. Obeng stressed.
“If you open your doors to them, we will be swallowed. Even now they have taken all our space. We cannot simply compete with them.”
These concerns have followed Mr Bagbin’s visit to Nigeria’s Parliament, where he said a joint committee of eminent persons from Ghana and Nigeria’s Legislatures had recommended the reconsideration of the $1 million minimum capital for Nigerian traders operating in Ghana.
In his address, Mr Bagbin said this proposal would be part of the Ghana-Nigeria Friendship Act being worked on to ensure amicable business interests between the people of both countries.
After earlier criticism of this proposal, Dr. Obeng has also said the Ghana-Nigeria Friendship Act is not necessary for the face of already existing ECOWAS protocols.
“So why do you bypass ECOWAS and isolate a country and be friendly with it? You can’t bypass these things and do any friendly pact with anybody.”
“It is as simple as that because we have the rules of engagement that have been provided to us through these treaties and protocols, and it is beautiful,” Dr. Obeng added.
Though there is free trade among ECOWAS countries, Ghana’s laws say a person who is not a citizen or an enterprise that is not wholly-owned by a citizen shall not invest or participate 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.
There is also a $1 million minimum capital requirement for foreigners doing business in Ghana, in line with GIPC Act.