The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) is to embark upon a nationwide campaign to educate traders on the dangers of dealing in pirated textiles.

The campaign is to also alert the traders about the planned resumption of the exercise by the anti-piracy textile task force to confiscate pirated textiles in markets.

The acting Director of Communications of MoTI, Nana Akrasi Sarpong, told the Daily Graphic that the educational campaign was to expose the traders to the effects of dealing in pirated textiles on Ghana’s textile industry and also prepare their minds for the intended exercise by the task force.

He said the ministry would hold a stakeholders’ meeting on February 3, 2014 in Accra to discuss how to fashion out a more holistic approach of dealing with pirated textiles.

He mentioned traders and officials from the Ghana Immigration Service and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority as some of the stakeholders expected to participate in the meeting.

Suspension of exercise

The anti-piracy task force confiscated some pirated textiles at various markets last year.

Following appeals by the traders, the presidency announced the suspension of the work of the task force, and gave the traders a three-month moratorium to learn to decipher between  pirated textiles and  genuine ones.

TGLEU on task force

The Textile, Garment and Leather Employees Union (TGLEU) of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) condemned the suspension of the work of the anti-piracy task force and accused the Ministry of Trade and Industry of influencing the presidency to take that decision.

The General Secretary of the Union, Mr Abraham Koomson, said the suspension of the work of the task force had increased the influx of pirated textiles in the country, which had worsened the plight of local textiles. 

He, therefore, called for the resumption of the work of the anti-piracy task force to continue the confiscation of pirated textiles and save the local textile industry from imminent collapse. 

Commitment

Nana Sarpong, who is also a member of the anti-piracy task force, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry was committed to the work of the task force.

He said the suspension of the exercise was to allow for space to educate the traders on the dangers of selling pirated textiles.

He said the MoTI did not want to be accused of targeting the traders, hence, the decision to engage all stakeholders to come up with a more holistic approach of preventing the influx of pirated textiles.

Nana Sarpong said immigration and customs officials would be encouraged to tighten checks at the entry points to prevent the smuggling of pirated textiles into the country.