Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, the Minister of Trade and Industry (MoTI) has thus been appointed to chair the committee to ensure it delivered on its mandate.

It would be recalled that in May 2018, a 21-member committee, chaired by Julius Kofi Gbogla, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), was inaugurated by MoTI to enforce article 27(1a) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act 865, 2013.

The law states that, “a person who is not a citizen or an enterprise which is not wholly owned by citizen shall not invest or participate in the sale of goods or services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place.”

The committee was also to combat pirated goods on the Ghanaian market while making sure that local textile producers survived in the industry.

However, there has been a heightened tension between the committee and retailers with the latter resisting attempts by the team to insist on the law.

A joint statement issued by MoTI and the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) after an emergency stakeholder meeting in Accra on Tuesday, nonetheless, asked the committee to “continue with its work with a higher level of executive authority” as Mr Kyerematen took up the position of “new chairman of the committee.”

The meeting which deliberated on legal, socio-economic, political, diplomatic and security issues relating to maintenance of peace, order and sanity in the domestic retail landscape while ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations, reaffirmed “government commitment to support Ghanaians in the retail trade sector

It had in attendance government officials, security personnel, civil society organisations, members of parliament and executives from the trading community where members agreed to include representatives from the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) on the Retail Committee.