Ghanaian businesses engaged in the sale of fishing gears and other equipment, are crying foul over an alleged take-over of their businesses by Chinese traders.
According to them, the situation, coupled with the harsh economic condition is impacting adversely on their operations compelling some of them to fold up.
The businesses, mostly located at Cow lane, a business enclave in the economic hub of the nation’s capital, are threatening to take the law into their own hands if authorities fail to heed their demands.
“Whether it is right by law or not, we are not going to compromise.We are not going to sit down. We will take the law first into our own hands by locking their shops and whatever happens there, the government is liable,” the Organizer of Association of Importers and Distributors of Fishing Gear, Bright Asare remarked.
He further retorted, “If the little food that Ghanaians eat, you bring in foreigners, be their front runner, and ask them to employ few Ghanaians so that they pay them, what do I do with my kids at school? How do I pay school fees? How will I be able to service the loans I’ve taken from the banks? I can’t do that.”
Another trader, Ofoe Ametepey observed, “I want the government to intervene and help us because we have suffered so much. The fishermen complain that they are not getting harvest, but i always tell them the situation is because of the poor quality of fishing nets that the Chinese businesses sell to them.”
A fisherman who also spoke to Citi Business News intimated, “My colleagues who patronise the Chinese products are compelled to do so because the goods belonging to Ghanaians are usually locked up at the ports as a result of the high taxes making it difficult to clear them as quickly as possible.”
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By: Vivian Kai Lokko, Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana