Traders Hope In Government Decreases

The Greater Accra Regional Secretary of Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Nana Poku has expressed worry at the manner in which trading activities evolved last year.

According to him, Ghanaian traders are so disappointed that they have decided to brave the coming year with no expectations from government adding that, government had failed to impute policies that would have aided business.

In an interview with the PUBLISHER, Nana Poku who doubles as the Deputy National Secretary for the association said, “…traders’ expectations have dwindled because they were expecting that this government would achieve what President Kufuor achieved but none of these is happening and has caused traders to lose a lot of money.”

“Sincerely speaking, there is nothing to expect because traders don’t trust policy makers…if they are not making provisions for traders to flourish, I don’t think traders would have any excitements this year,” he stated.

The GUTA secretary attributed the crumbling of businesses in 2017 to “killer tariffs” and charges placed on the clearing of goods at the various ports in the country.

He said, “If after one year in office, you are bringing in these killer tariffs for people to pay, at the end of the day you are killing businesses to make your policies alive. By the end of the day, they will realise they have killed trading.”

He noted that in their search for answers to the upsurge of duties at the ports, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) gave GUTA the understanding that it was not the benchmark values that was triggering the upsurge but rather the ECOWAS Common External Tariffs (CETs).

A little Bit of Hope

Meanwhile some traders at various business centres say they believe things can get better and have therefore appealed to government to work on policies that would make trading effective and rewarding.

Nana Achan Siriboh a boutique owner says, “our expectation is that very soon Ghana would be able to enjoy free ports…if the government can do that for us, it would really help business men and women. If we give them a chance, they can do it. If they have brought free education, they can bring free harbour…”

Fire Caution

In order for traders not to lose more investments in future, GUTA has sent a caution to traders in various business to be mindful of the harmattan and ensure that they protect their lives and goods from any fire outbreak.

“Let me urged all traders in the markets to be very vigilant in the use of fire. Their electricity gadget should be put off always when they are leaving the shops. They should not take anything for granted…the weather promises to get intensive…we know that when it gets to this season, if anything sparks fire, the whole market would burn,” he advised.

“…we are already in debt and we can’t afford to have our wares burnt…be very alert of the weather,” the GUTA secretary added.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]