She attributed the perceived dominance of foreigners to the practice of fronting by Ghanaian citizens on behalf of foreign traders.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, the Minister said claims that foreigners controlled about 70 per cent of the retail space lacked factual basis and were inconsistent with her observations during market visits across the country.
“I can say for sure, without any scientific basis, that foreigners are not responsible for 70 percent of our retail markets. I don’t need rocket science. I just need to go to the market and scan around,” she stated.
Under Section 27 of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act, 2013 (Act 865), sectors such as petty trading, market operations and small-scale taxi services are reserved exclusively for citizens to protect local livelihoods and promote indigenous entrepreneurship.
Ms Ofosu-Adjare said the central issue was not an influx of foreign retailers but the tendency of Ghanaians to register businesses in their own names and operate as fronts for foreign owners.
“Even those people in the retail trade who are foreigners are being fronted by Ghanaians. If you enter the shop right now, you see a Ghanaian sitting down. What do you have to say that you are closing that shop because it doesn’t belong to a Ghanaian, whereas it’s being manned by a Ghanaian?” she asked.
Ms Ofosu-Adjare explained that enforcement was constrained by the lack of evidence, as businesses legally registered under Ghanaian names and operated by Ghanaians could not be sanctioned, even when beneficial ownership was foreign.
“The name of the game is evidence. You go to the Registrar General and pull a document which says that it belongs to one Ghanaian. But so long as we keep fronting for them, registering for them, there is nothing anybody can do. Because you’ll be sued,” she cautioned.
The Minister thus urged Ghanaians to desist from facilitating foreign participation in the reserved retail sector, saying that foreigners operating openly without local fronts could be easily identified and dealt with.
“Don’t front for them. Let them come with their red face on the retail market and we’ll do the needful,” she said.
GNA
