Do not attack foreigners – GUTA warns members

Company News on Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-07-23

The Ghana Traders Association (GUTA) has warned its members to refrain from attacking foreign retailers.

This is happening just 24 hours after Ghanaian traders from Accra's Opera Square have besieged Nigerian-owned stores and locked them up.

The move was to force them to stop engaging in retail business in the country.

But GUTA executives have stated that such energetic action is not the best approach to dealing with the problem.

The president of the GUTA, Joseph Obeng, said that he supported calls for foreigners to leave the country's retail sector, as stipulated by law, but attacking foreigners was contrary to the law and had to be disapproved.

He urged members to act instead to force the country's authorities to enforce the law prohibiting foreigners from engaging in retail business instead of law enforcement.

"I advise my people not to hurt any stranger, for it is not his fault. We do not fight people, we fight a system that does not work. Laws that do not work and that foreigners benefit from a weak country that does not even apply its own laws, "he said.

At the same time, the police announced that she will soon meet with GUTA executives and foreign traders to find an amicable solution to this recurrent impbade.

ACP Kwesi Ofori, director of operations of the Greater Accra Regional Police, said that members of the GUTA had agreed to end the illegal activity while a meeting was being held at the Regional Police Command to deal with this issue.

"They agreed in principle to stop their illegal activities of closing stores," he said.

Last month, the Association of Nigerian Traders in Ghana (NUTAG) accused the Ghana Traders Association (GUTA) of terrorizing Nigerian traders in Ghana.

The group warned that the antagonism of GUTA may escalate if it is not immediately controlled.

GUTA had come down on Nigerian traders in Ghana to trade in the local retail market.

Clashes took place between Ghanaian and Nigerian traders in the Suame Magazine in Kumasi in June 2019, which resulted in the destruction of the property. face their anger that same month.