Five Nigerians and four Ghanaians have been arrested after traders from the two countries clashed at Tip Toe Lane, near the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in the Greater Accra Region.
The traders pelted the police personnel who had visited the scene to restore calm with stones and caused damage to shops and also smashed the rear windscreen of a police vehicle. Trading activities also came to a stop and about 54 shops, mainly mobile phone retail shops were locked up. The clash happened after the leadership of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) locked up some shops belonging to foreigners in the area as part of efforts to rid the Ghanaian market of foreign traders engaged in retail trade, in consonance with the Ghana Investment Promotion Act Centre Act, 2013 (Act 865).The foreigners, whose shops were locked, are mainly Nigerians who belong to the Nigerian Union of Traders Association Ghana (NUTAG).
It took a combined team of police personnel from the Nima Divisional Police Command and the Operations Unit of the Accra Regional Police Command to restore calm.Later on, a team of policemen, led by the Nima Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Abraham Acquaye, also arrived at the scene and patrolled the area to maintain order. Concerns
In separate interviews, traders on both sides blamed each other for starting the riot and destroying the peace that existed between the two sides. While the Nigerian traders called on the governments of Ghana and Nigeria to intervene to resolve the impasse, the Ghanaian traders insisted that the Ghanaian government must enforce Section 27 (1) of the GIPC Act that barred foreigners from engaging in retail business. One of the traders, Mr Edwin Abram, said the retail business was the preserve of Ghanaians “and so we do not understand why our Ghanaian leaders are looking on for foreigners to take over our space and deprive us of our livelihoods and income.”DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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