Deputy Minister of Trade, Murtala Mohammed has stated that the country’s trade laws barring foreigners from engaging in retail trading still holds and that government does not intend to sabotage any foreign company but boost local businesses.

According to Murtala, the object is to encourage and promote local businesses; he said “I think it is a critical issue considering the fact that majority of the Ghanaian populace particularly those engaged in businesses and trading are engaged in retail trading and the extent to which we have laws that bars a foreigner from engaging in certain aspects of trade.

But it is also important to mention that our laws do not bar foreigners from doing business in Ghana, but there are certain types of businesses that foreigners can engage in. If you look at the GIPC Act, it is very clear- where retail businesses completely restrictive to only Ghanaians”.

Under the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act, retail businesses are restrictive to only Ghanaians and Murtala maintains that there is the need for the law to enforced in order to prosecute companies who flout it.

Speaking on Business and Financial Time ‘Business Time’ programme on Viasat 1 last Saturday, Murtala explained that “the minister formed a committee and had the opportunity to meet the Chief Justice and she gave professional advice that there was the need for those law to be enforced, and that we needed to get people who could prosecute”.

There has reportedly been calls by Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) executives to flush out foreign companies engaged in retail trading but Murtala claims “as at now, not a single person has been reported. Before the committee was set up, they made a whole lot of noise, and justified as their concerns were, but having trained them, they cannot provide us with evidence”.

He lamented issues hindering the smooth enforcement of the policy, maintaining that a lot of members of GUTA and Ghanaian traders who are complaining are fronting for these foreigners. “For instance, a Chinese man will come to Kantamanto and rents a store, but he wouldn’t sit in the store. He gets a member of GUTA who will be doing the business for him. How can we know that this store belongs to a Chinese?”.

As things stand now, he says GUTA has failed to provide any evidence eventhough government and the ministry have put in place all the necessary measures to forestall it.

“The saddest aspect of this is that some of the members of GUTA are fronting for these foreigners, and their leadership told me this”.

Despite the cap placed on foreign firms to do retailing, Murtala believes the country is still reliant on foreign investment“In as much as we are talking about protecting the interest of retail traders, we are also mindful of the fact that we need to attract investors in the country”.

The ‘Business Time’ televion programme is already in its second episode with Giant Malt and Lele foods among the few sponsors who are committed to developing a strong bond to the programme.