The Ghana Union of Traders Association, (GUTA) is calling for the Presidential Committee on Foreign Retail Trade to as a matter of urgency resume operations and prevent foreigners from operating in the country’s retail space.

According to GUTA its members will not hesitate to take matters into their own hands if the committee does not resume operations.

The members of GUTA are lamenting the persistent and increasing spate of foreign retail operations in the Ghanaian market.

The situation according to them is sparking agitation among the Ghanaian trading community who are running at a loss due to the situation.
Addressing the issue to the media, President of GUTA, Joseph Obeng said the issue of unlawful foreign retail in the market must be dealt with immediately in order to prevent total chaos and confrontation between Ghanaian traders and foreigners.

He also attributed the influx of foreigners to the insecurity in neighbouring African countries.

“Due to the growing insecurity in some of our neighbouring countries, there is a huge influx of migrants from these areas of the sub-region arriving in droves to take over our little trading space”.

“We want to be emphatic herein that there is no appropriate time to strictly enforce our laws to the letter than now, to protect the citizens and the nation at that.”

“It is worth mentioning that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the ECOWAS treaties are explicit in the rules and regulations governing their establishment while the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act has also not in any way contravened any of the protocols”.

“Today, if you look around the economy of Ghana, you find that retail trade and communication sectors, gold mining, other extractive industries, banking etc. have all been taken over by foreigners. Our earnest plea to the government now is to at least flush out all illegal, miscreant and recalcitrant foreign elements in the retail trade business by strict application of the sovereign laws of the country. This should be done with dispatch to avert any catastrophic situation,” he added.