Kumasi: Traders re-open shops after regional minister’s intervention

Traders and business operators in the Central Business Districts of the Kumasi metropolis in the Ashanti Region are beginning to re-open their shops after a meeting with the Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah and the Asantehemaa. The traders went on a sit-down strike over the cost of doing business and the Ghana Revenue Authority’s decision to assign tax officers to the shops of business operators to ensure tax compliance in the Kumasi metropolis. The Regional Minister told Accra 100.5 FM’s mid-day news in an interview on Friday, October 14 2022, that the decision to re-open the shops was arrived at after his meetings with officers of GRA, Traders Advocacy Group Ghana (TAGG) and the Adum Business Community. He added that for the past three days, he had been holding series of meetings with the various stakeholders in the Kumasi metropolis to find a lasting solution to the impasse between GRA and traders. He said the GRA has been directed to withdraw their tax officers from the shops of the business operators and maintain them at the big malls and shops in the Kumasi metropolis. He said going forward, he would meet with various stakeholders every three months to ensure all the thorny issues are addressed. He commended the leadership of the traders for adhering to the calls to re-open their shops in the CBDs of Kumasi.