All unregistered businesses in the Western region are to be closed down, an Assistant State Attorney at the Registrar General's Department, Samuel Oppong has said.

"If you are an entrepreneur and you have not registered your business with the RGD, whatever business you are operating is illegal", he said at a meeting with small and medium scale entrepreneurs last Friday.

Mr Oppong spoke on "Registration of Businesses and its effect on micro and small scale enterprises as part of the Ghana Journalists Association's Media Dialogue Programme.

He said certificates of some of the businesses had expired for over five years and yet they were still operating.

Under the law, all businesses are to renew their registration each year, he said, adding, "If we check and you have not done that the law will take its course and we'll not entertain any excuses."

Some of the participants acknowledged that they had not renewed their certificates. However they complained that the fees were too high. They also said there were multiple payments in the system.

To renew registration, an applicant has to pay a search fee of ¢50,000, another ¢35,000 for Form A and tax identification number and a processing fee of ¢222,000.

Credit: The Ghanaian Times