President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, has described the proposed Legislative Instrument (L.I) on the importation of 22 selected products as unnecessary.

According to him, though government wants the nation to be self-sufficient, measures need to be put in place and all loopholes must to be sealed before the roll out of the initiative.

Appearing before the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, Dr. Joseph Obeng noted that the importation of the selected items were to meet the local demand.

He said, “We have to move slowly while we are trying to achieve self-sufficiency and do the right things. What is the threshold that qualifies a product to be restricted? Are we talking about 60 percent or 40 percent of production?"

"We have not been given all this information and that is why we have called that instead of putting any impediment on trading, they should ban whatever they want to ban, and we will know that the product is banned but putting restrictions on us because we just want to import to meet demand is uncalled-for,” the GUTA President bemoaned.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond said the import restriction bill on the 22 commodities aims at developing the country and encourage local production.

Below are the list of 22 items considered for import restriction:

Rice
Guts, bladders and stomachs of animals
Poultry
Animal and vegetable oil
Margarine
Fruit juices
Soft drink
Mineral water
Noodles and pasta
Ceramic tiles
Corrugated paper and paper board
Mosquito coil and insecticides
Soaps and detergents
Motor cars
Iron and steel
Cement
Polymers (Plastics and Plastic Products)
Fish
Sugar
Clothing and apparel
Biscuits
Canned tomatoes

SA/MA

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