Ghanaian
authorities have renewed the siege against foreign 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
