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•It was to clarify pronouncements made by some members of GUTA concerning the retail trade impasse between Ghana and Nigeria
•Speaker Bagbin is said to have assured the trade body of his support in protecting the interest of Ghanaian retail traders in their dealing with other nationals
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has assured the country’s trade body, the Ghana Union of Traders Association, that the GIPC Act requiring a US$1 million minimum capital will not be removed nor amended in favour of Nigerians or other nationals.
This comes after the speaker had earlier made comments indicating a review of the Act before Nigeria’s Parliament but clarified they were in consonance with a joint communique drafted by a Ghana-Nigeria trade delegation with the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
GUTA after a meeting held with the Speaker of Parliament last week, detailed some outcomes of discussions with regards to the trade impasse.
The statement signed by its President Dr. Joseph Obeng said the meeting discussed the US$1 million capital requirement to be paid by foreign retail traders of which the speaker stated he had no jurisdiction to remove or amend the Act to favour Nigerian traders and other nationals.
The meeting also sought to clarify some assertions that the Speaker had labelled Ghanaian traders as opportunists of which he told members of GUTA his statements before Nigeria’s Parliament had been misconstrued and offered better clarity.
“How can I go and sell Ghana to Nigerians, that is never possible and the message I sent there was misrepresented. I am Champion of trade in Ghana, there is no way I will go against it.”
“I will never go and sell Ghana for a pittance. If I wanted money, by this time I would have been one of the richest in Ghana,” the speaker assured GUTA’s leadership.
Speaker Bagbin urged for calm heads to prevail with a focus on the need to protect the interest of Ghanaian traders in dealing with other nationals.
Meanwhile, the leadership of GUTA, led by its president, Dr Joseph Obeng after the meeting expressed gratitude to the speaker for the clarifications made.
GUTA also thanked the Speaker for his unwavering support and rendered an unqualified apology for earlier pronouncements made of which [Speaker Bagbin] accepted.
