The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has commended the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin for addressing concerns they raised over a purported review of the GIPC Act 2013, Act 865.

The Speaker of Parliament is reported to have hinted of a review of the GIPC Act to exempt the capital requirement for Nigerian retailers to trade in Ghana.

This was captured in a joint communiqué issued between Ghana and Nigeria, following the Extraordinary ECOWAS Summit, which said Nigerian retailers will now be exempted from paying a US$1 million capital requirement under the Act to facilitate trade.

Making the disclosure before Nigeria’s House of Representatives about two weeks ago, Alban Bagbin said the development will end the long-standing retail impasse between Ghana and Nigeria.

However, during the meeting with the Speaker of Parliament last week, Mr. Bagbin clarified that he was misconstrued.

He further stated that he does not have the capacity to amend the law.

GUTA has been at the forefront of calls to have the government enforce the GIPC law which reserves the retail space for Ghanaians.

The association argues that foreign nationals are currently dominating the retail space in the country due to the non-enforcement of the law.