Piracy killing our jobs; save us now – Textile workers beg govt

Members of the Coalition of Textile Workers have said they have observed with “utter disappointment” the unbridled dumping of pirated fabrics onto the Ghanaian market – a situation that they say is rendering their local products uncompetitive and unmarketable, thus, threatening their livelihood.

In a petition to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, the coalition nonetheless acknowledged that the government has favourably responded to its appeals and, accordingly, introduced measures to address the challenges facing the sector industry.

In February this year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, while delivering the State of the Nation Address in Parliament, stressed the need for the textile industry in Ghana to be revived. He confirmed that specific policy measures were being implemented to deal with the situation.

Among the policies include a zero-rated VAT on the supply of locally-made textiles for a period of three years.

The government also put in place a tax stamp regime for both locally manufactured and imported textiles to address the challenge of pirated designs and logos in the textile trade. The Tema Port has also been designated as a single-entry corridor for the importation of textile prints, with a textile taskforce in place to ensure effective compliance, and reduce, if not eliminate, smuggling of imported textiles.

To add to that, a new textile import management system has been instituted, also, to control imports of textiles.

Despite these interventions, the coalition, in its petition, said: “We notice a piecemeal and partial implementation of the measures without the critical and indispensable functions of the anti-textiles piracy task force.”

To ease the agitations within the rank and file of its members, the coalition is demanding an emergency meeting with the sector minister over their jobs by Tuesday, 30 July 2019 to address their concerns.