traders, as the Ministry of Trade and Industry, at the weekend clamped down
over 40 shops belonging to Nigerians.
The shops located
at Akanshie, about 200 meters away from the Mokola International Market were
occupied by Nigerians, who traded in bicycle spare parts and other accessories.
According to one of the affected traders, Mr.
Damien Uduba, their shops were stormed by some officials of the Ministry of
Trade and Industry, who compelled them to pack their goods and thereafter had
the shops under lock and key. The officials were reported to have secured the
shops with their own padlocks, thereby making them inaccessible to the owners.
Business in the usually busy area has almost
grinded to a halt, as only a few shops said to be owned by Ghanaians are open.
“Official of the Ministry of Trade and Ministry of
Ghana came yesterday and asked us to close and pack our things. And afterwards,
they locked up all the shops and asked us to go out of their markets. In fact
we are all troubled, we started packing our things inside the shops, and they
locked everything inside and took the keys away,” Uduba revealed.
A written notice pasted on the doors of the sealed
shops titled “Notice to Non-Ghanaians engaging in retail business,” instructed
them to regularize their businesses before they would be allowed to continue
doing business.
A ruffled Uduba insisted that he had done all that
was required by the Ghanaian law to do business in the country, “If you see in my
hands, I have all the documents, we are obliged to obtain. This is the document
from the Ghanaian government authorizing me to commence business in the
country.
“You can see another document. This is my Resident
Permit, allowing me to reside in the country. In fact I have all the documents.
I pay VAT, IRS and other taxes. I pay everything and yet they closed my shop.
They said I should move out of the market. I should pack all my things and go
back to Nigeria,” he said.
Another affected trader, Mr. Prince Uzokwu, who
also recounted his ordeal at the ministry, said he was told that he would only
be allowed into his shop to pack his goods out of the place. He was not allowed
to continue trading in the area.
Uzokwu recollected that the area was transformed into
a beehive of commerce by the Nigerian traders stating, “When we came to this
place it was virtually empty, but you know Nigerians. I came and I brought
somebody and that person brought another and within a period of time, the place
blossomed into a market.
“So if I go to the bush or a village to establish
again, maybe tomorrow, the place will also turn into a market and they will
come and expel us again. So we don’t know what to do about it. We are losing
business and we have families to fend for,” he blustered.
Uduba added that the conciliatory moves by ECOWAS
Parliament that brought them some respite may have been disregarded by the
Ghanaian authorities.
Mr. Joseph Obeng, the National Organizer of Ghana
Union of Traders Association (GUTA) insisted that there was nothing like
concession. The laws of the country must be implemented to the letter. In so
far as their law had reserved retail business for Ghanaians alone it must be
respected.
Oteng also reasoned that Ghana cannot forgo her
laws when her nationals in other ECOWAS countries were subject to domicile
laws.
The President of the Nigerian Union of Traders
Association in Ghana (NUTAG), Deacon John Igwe Ukala, who expressed surprise at
the latest intimidation of Nigerian traders, explained that he was unaware of
any default on the part of their members that could have prompted the action
taken by the Ghanaian authorities.
“I always tell our members to be law abiding and do
as the law of Ghana says. Don’t misbehave here, pay your tax, pay your VAT, and
get your Resident Permit. To my greatest surprise, when I heard this news
yesterday we were really shocked. I cannot understand the cause of this,
because I know our members have complied with their laws,” he posited.
Ukala said the closure was targeted at Nigerians,
because other foreign nationals, especially the Lebanese were selling in the
markets without molestation, stressing, “As I am talking to you now, when we go
back to the other side of Akanshie, you will see some whites, especially
Lebanese trading.”
Ukala, who claimed that the traders felt abandoned,
because they were regularly intimidated by the Ghanaian authorities decried the
in- action of Nigerian government. He also asked that ECOWAS should come to
their rescue once again.
A source close to the Ghanaian Trade Ministry, who
preferred anonymity, explained that the country had adopted the posture in
order to compel the Nigerian government to act on certain bureaucratic
bottlenecks that were militating against their trade relations with Nigeria.
For instance, he cited the fact that some made in
Ghana goods were prohibited by the Nigerian government, an action that was
frustrating their bid to engage in more robust business with Nigeria.
He also made mention of the fact that their traders
were intimidated, harassed and extorted at the Nigerian border, which has
limited Ghanaian penetration into the Nigerian market.
President John Mahama, when he was vice president
regularly derided Nigeria, because of the bloated number of security checks at
the border, insisting that inter-regional trade would not strive under such
circumstances.
Commenting on the most recent closure, the Nigerian
High Commissioner to the country, Ambassador Ademola Seyi Onafowokan, had
assured the affected traders that he will confer with the host authorities on
their behalf. Therefore, he asked the traders to be law abiding and be
confident that Ghanaians in their magnanimity would allow them to continue
their business.
For those, who flagrantly disobey the Ghanaian
laws, he had no words of reprieve for them, as he insisted that the government
of Nigeria will not countenance lawlessness.
Source: Daily Trust
