By Ken Sackey, GNA
Accra, Dec. 03, GNA – President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo has asked members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association
(GUTA) to exercise restraint and refrain from taking the law into their hands
in the matter of foreign participation in the retail business.
Speaking at a meeting with the leadership of
the association at Okaishie in Accra, as part of his tour of the Greater Accra
Region, he said although the law favoured Ghanaians on the matter, it was
unacceptable to flout the law.
Thus, they should allow the authorities to
handle the matter to find a lasting solution to the vexed issue.
“People cannot take the law into their
own hands and enforce the law. If we do that, Ghana will become chaotic. We
have to be careful about this phenomenon of taking the law into our own hands
about situations that government is yet to resolve,”
“Please allow the work that the Trade
Minister and the Committee are doing with the Immigration Authorities to
progress. I am confident that if we allow same to work, your issues with foreign
participation in the retail business will soon be a thing of the past in line
with the law” the President urged.
Dr. Joseph Obeng, President of GUTA, also
insisted that the laws of Ghana must be allowed to work, assured the President
that the association would cooperate with Government to ensure that the matter
was resolved without a dent on the country’s image.
He commended the government for the
reduction in import duties that was bringing down the cost of doing business.
The GUTA President also appealed to the
President to put an eye on the activities at the ports, because the port
authorities were charging way above the approved fees for handling of goods, a
situation that was making business at the port difficult.
He also wondered why there was still a
taskforce at the ports, when port processes were automated, and called on
government to check the activities of the taskforce since they hampered work of
the Paperless system.
GNA