By Stephen Asante, GNA
Suame (Ash), Nov. 04, GNA - Dr John Osei Bobie Boahin, the Suame Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), has said the nation ought to map out effective strategies to decisively deal with the intermittent clashes between Ghanaian traders and their Nigerian counterparts at the Suame Magazine.
“These clashes have wider and far-reaching consequences, especially the looming security threats and the inherent diplomatic implications,” he said.
Dr Bobie Boahin, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the ‘Meet-the-Press’ programme at Suame in the Ashanti Region, indicated that the Municipal Assembly, which supervised activities at the Magazine, was treating the issue with the seriousness it deserved.
“We are aware that the area is one of the sprawling and fast-growing municipalities with an intractable growing number of migrants taking up settlements to do business,” he said.
“Therefore, the Assembly, acting in partnership with the security agencies, is putting in place a system to identify all those foreigners, especially Nigerian spare-parts dealers at Suame, for the next line of action.”
Dr Bobie Boahin expressed worry that earlier attempts by the Assembly to meet with the foreign traders had failed as the Nigerians had consistently failed to show up.
He said the Assembly was monitoring the situation with keen interest and called for calm for the law to take its own course.
Members of the Suame branch of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) have, for some time now, been on collision course with Nigerian traders at the Magazine, Africa’s largest metal fabrication enclave.
This had led to the closure of Nigerian shops with its attendant tension and security implications.
Mr Offei Mensah, Spokesperson for the GUTA, said per Ghana’s laws and trade regulations, retail business was purely the reserve of Ghanaians, and not for non-citizens, which had become the bone of contention.
He said the Association would, therefore, use rightful and legal means to prevent non-nationals from engaging in such businesses.
GNA
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