Retail Business Overrun

David Amoateng

 

Ghana’s retail business ambience is on the verge of being taken over by non-citizens. If a report that seventy or so percent of this space has been taken over by non-Ghanaians is anything to go by, then the law which reserves this sector for citizens is but a joke, breached with impunity.

Listening to the President of the Traders Advocate Group (TAG), David Amoateng, on a radio station on the subject on Tuesday was distressful.

Ghanaians are not known to be xenophobic. This commentary is not intended to alter our Akwaaba nature to strangers but to protect local livelihoods.

If the order continues without let or a check, as it were, it would not be long before Chinese take over completely the retail business across the country.

Although yet to be verified, some Chinese are said to be engaged in the sale of vegetables in a portion of Legon.

We acknowledge that this is a slippery terrain because the repercussions of any action which point at Ghana shutting its doors to foreigners can be counterproductive.

We recall how it took backdoor lobbying to get Nigeria to vote for us to host the headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The action of some Ghanaian traders against their Nigerian counterparts at Tiptoe Lane was referred to.

While an outright shutting of our doors to such participation is not what we are looking at, we think that an alternative arrangement should be sought so the retail sector is not completely taken over by the usually better resourced foreigners.

The big malls are springing up all over the place, making us wonder why local entrepreneurs cannot also venture into this lucrative space.

Today, the Okada business is no longer a preserve of Ghanaians. Niger nationals have trooped to Ghana as part of an Okada rush. Hardly able to speak any Ghanaian language let alone English, all they need is direction through hand signals and a few Akan and English expressions and they are ready to go.

It is not difficult to distinguish them from Ghanaian riders through communication.

As for the black market foreign exchange operations, it is dominated by Niger nationals labelled abokyi.

The Customs laboratory area at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) roundabout in Accra, Tudu and Nima, all have black market dealers whose operations impact negatively on the strength of the national currency.

Some of them have direct links with top management of some banks.

With the Bank of Ghana stability intervention of the Cedi through the release of dollars to the banks, Ghana has become a hub for the American currency flight to neighbouring countries.

The recent nine-day wonder arrest of foreign exchange marketers has come and gone, but the business endures because the abokyis engaged in it are connected to managers in the commercial banks.

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