Shops to close in protest against foreign retailers

Traders in Ghana have given foreigners up to the end of this month to restrain from doing retail business, failure of which will lead to legal action taken against them.

The traders have also threatened to close down their shops from June 24, if government does not enforce laws that forbid foreigners from engaging in retail trading, which is reserved for Ghanaians.

These sentiments were expressed by President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) George Kwaku Ofori. Mr Ofori said already local traders are suffering under high taxes and cannot afford to have their preserves taken over by foreigners.

“We are going to assist government in terms of what legal means to get the people out of the place because our laws forbid them from being there,” he told TV3’s Daniel Opoku on Wednesday.

Last year, government set up a task-force to stop the infiltration of retail business by foreigners.