Cocaine dealers are spoiling our business’

The activities of drug dealers in the yam export trade has led to a sharp fall in the price of the commodity on markets abroad, especially in London.

According to the President of the Ghana Root Crop Traders and Exporters Union (GROCTEU), Kofi Asiedu, the willingness of the drug dealers to dump the yams on the market at any price after extricating the concealed drugs had resulted in the price for yams in London being lower than what it is being sold in Ghana.

Asiedu stated that there were numerous instances where yams had been given out for free by some of these suspected dealers which had led to the incurrence of huge debts by the genuine exporters and retailers.

He said if the present state of affairs was allowed to continue, export of yam from Ghana which incidentally were considered as top quality in markets abroad, could be banned leading to loss of jobs and incomes for thousands of people who depend on it for survival.

The GROCTEY President called on the government to assist the union to set a single corridor for the export of the produce which will definitely put an end to the activities of these dealers.

He said a single warehouse for all yam exporters would lead to the union taking orders on behalf of its members and thereby, ensure that the drug dealers would not use the yams to export their illegal drugs as no one would know before hand the final destination of yams put in the ware house.

Asiedu noted that in addition to the activities of drug dealers, there were several other factors which had led to the problems confronting the union’s members. He mentioned these as the use of the export trade to launder money thereby dodging the payment of taxes mainly by foreigners, the non-payment of proceeds by the retailers to their suppliers and the undercutting and over-supply of yams on the market by inexperienced exporters which ultimately lead to a fall in prices.

He accused the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) of snubbing a “God given” opportunity to increase export earnings of the country and instead, decided to adopt cumbersome and laborious system of citing warehouses all over the country to take all the non-traditional exporters and marketing the produce on behalf of the suppliers.

Asiedu noted that the country could triple its total earnings from the yam exports trade to the US and UK market from its present $7m a year if the right policies were adopted and urged MOTI to sit down with the union and talk in order to see how good their idea of a single corridor would be.