The Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA) has dared foreign traders whose retail shops have been closed to sue them if they feel they are being treated unfairly.
GUTA, yesterday [Thursday] demanded the closure of all retail shops belonging to foreigners by Monday, November 4, 2019, with claims that the government has not fulfilled its promise of ridding the market of such traders despite several appeals.
Already, the Association has begun serving these foreign traders with notices as to they evacuating their shops, and have already locked up a few.
When questioned as to whether their move to close down such shops was legal, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Association, Daniel Owoahene Acheampong responded that the foreigners can decide to sue them if they ‘think what we are doing is not right”.
“What we are saying is that if they in the first place have flouted the laws, what is the beef if you also flout the laws? They should take us to court if they think what we are doing is not right. What they are doing is offending the law. When you look on and allow someone to come into your country without the recourse of obeying the laws of the land, do you sit down for the person to go on and break your laws?” he asked.
Background
The Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA) have on several occasions complained about what they say is the collapse of their businesses due to the invasion of foreigners in the retail business.
According to them, the activities of the foreigners breach the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre’s Act (Act 865).
Citing the closure of the Nigerian border to protect its country from the smuggling of goods into their country, the Association said they will not tolerate the foreigners anymore, and demanded that their shops be closed down.
Similar incident at Suame Magazine
A few months ago, police and military personnel had to be deployed to maintain order at Suame Magazine after irate Ghanaian traders ransacked shops owned by Nigerians, insisting that they will evict all foreigners who were engaging in retail trade in the area.
They were captured on video destroying properties belonging to Nigerian traders and burning car tyres.
Even before that, a number of Nigerian traders had left Suame Magazine after over 50 of their shops were closed down for engaging in retail trade contrary to Ghanaian laws.