With intense agitation coming from the Ghana Union of Traders Association, Ghana’s government seems to have no choice but to agree that foreign business owners or traders engaged in retail trading have no place in Ghana. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to that effect, has said his government is working hard to ensure strict enforcement of the country’s laws, and particularly to discourage foreigners from engaging in retail business in the country.
“[Member of] GUTA are right in their interpretation of the laws of our country. The laws of our country, until they are changed, have banned foreigners from engaging in retail trade in our country as well as activities in our markets reserved those for Ghanaians. So if people who are not Ghanaians are involved in it, people are entitled to get agitated about it,” the President said.
Here Is All You Need To Know
- Ghana’s President who was speaking during a media chat with journalists at Jubilee House said the Ghanaian government sides with the Ghana Union of Traders Association’s (GUTA) interpretation of the country’s trade laws that only locals can work in the retail sector.
- He, however, said agreed with people taking the law into their own hands to enforce the laws.
“What we need to do is to be more rigid in enforcing the law. Be more strict about the enforcement of the law and I’m hoping that the measures that have been put in place with the support of GUTA as they begin to work now, will make it possible and therefore bring down the decimal. The Nigerians cannot complain about our enforcement of our own laws. They do it in their country. There is nothing discriminatory about it,” he said.
“What I think [and] I’m hoping that we could put some kind of a handle on, is people taking the law into their own hands. That is why I made that intervention with GUTA and the leadership that they cannot take the law into their own hands by just closing down shops, there is no future in that,” Akufo-Addo added.
- The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and particularly Nigerian traders in the country have been in bad terms following series of actions taken by GUTA to stop the Nigerians from trading within the retail space, most of it involving forceful closure of their shops.
- Nigerian traders have however insisted that the ECOWAS protocol which allows the free movement of people, goods and services in West African countries also allows them to trade in Ghana
A Look At The Controversial Section 27(1) of Ghana’s Investment Promotion Center Act
According to Section 27 (1) of the GIPC Act, a person who is not a citizen or an enterprise which 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. The list of prohibited trading activities are:
- 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;
- The operation of taxi or car hire service in an enterprise that has a fleet of less than twenty-five vehicles;
- The operation of a beauty salon or a barbershop;
- The printing of recharge scratch cards for the use of subscribers of telecommunication services;
- The production of exercise books and other basic stationery; f. the retail of finished pharmaceutical products;
- The production, supply, and retail of sachet water;
- All aspects of pool betting business and lotteries, except football pool
Consequently, enterprises eligible for foreign participation and minimum foreign capital requirement are as follows:
A person who is not a citizen may participate in an enterprise other than an enterprise specified in section 27 if that person
- In the case of a joint enterprise with a partner who is a citizen, invests a foreign capital of not less than two hundred thousand United States dollars in cash or capital goods relevant to the investment or a combination of both by way of equity participation and
- The partner who is a citizen does not have less than ten percent equity participation in the joint enterprise; or
- Where the enterprise is wholly owned by that person, invests a foreign capital of not less than five hundred thousand United States dollars in cash or capital goods relevant to the investment or a combination of both by way of equity capital in the enterprise.
- A person who is not a citizen may engage in a trading enterprise if that person invests in the enterprise, not less than one million United States dollars in cash or goods and services relevant to the investments.
- For the purpose of this section, “trading” includes the purchasing and selling of imported goods and services.
- An enterprise referred to shall employ at least twenty skilled Ghanaians
Chase Away Foreigners?
GUTA President, in July 2019, said their agitations are just actions by local retailers to preserve Ghana’s retail space and should not be seen as xenophobic attacks.
Same July, Ghana Union Traders Association President was quoted as insisting that if the Ghanaian government does not do as expected and the time comes for the demonstration, its members will not be stopped.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world