The Committee on Foreigners in Retail Trade, established by the Trade Ministry has issued out a directive on the new roadmap after recent clashes among traders at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Tip Toe Lane halted the exercise.

The Committee is charged with the mission of fully enforcing the compliance of trade regulations by foreigners engaged in retail trade.  

To this end, the special task force will from August 10 resume its inspection of retail shops, this time, with the Police command to ensure sanity.  

A letter signed by the Acting Chief Director of the Trade Ministry, Patrick Yaw Nimo revealed that “The Police Command and the MMDAs within the respective areas of operation of the Task Force will be notified and invited to participate in the inspection exercise of the Task Force. All Shops closed by GUTA in designated operational areas will be opened for assessment by the taskforce. Shops already opened will be inspected".

The taskforce has thus announced a schedule for their operations as follows:

Greater Accra Region
Abossey Okai (Spare Parts) - August 10 to 11
Circle Area (Mobile Phones and Accessories) - August 12 to 14
Opera and Zongo Lane (General goods) - August 18 to 20
Kantamanto UTC (Hardware and Shoes) - August 18 to 20

Ashanti Region
Suame Magazine (Spare Parts and Surgicals) - August 18 to 20
Ayemfour Market ( Mobile Phones) - August 18 to 20
Adum (Surgical and Electricals) - August 18 to 20

Eastern Region
Koforidua Station/Lorry Park Area (Mobile Phones) - 1 to 3 September
Magazine (Spare Parts) - 1 to 3 September

GUTA maintains that per the ECOWAS rule of origin, foreign traders from the ECOWAS sub-region are only permitted to trade in goods that are manufactured in their respective countries.

And any other attempt to trade in goods that are not manufactured from one's respective country will require the trader to comply with Ghana Investment Promotion Centre's conditions on retail trade in the country.