AfCFTA: NANTS wants review of Ghana’s trade laws

National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) has urged the Ghanaian government to review the amount paid on the issuance of Business Registration Certificate to non-Ghanaian citizens, including migrants of ECOWAS/African Member States.

According to the country’s trade laws, a non Ghanaian is required to pay $5 000 which is 0.5 per cent of the minimum capital requirement of N1 million.

National Association of Nigerian Traders in a letter to President Nana Akufo-Addo and signed by its President Ken Ukaoha, urged the review to
make it consonant with the African trade agreement (AfCFTA).

“We therefore urge you Your Excellency, to propel Parliamentary review of such and other domestic laws in consonance with extant regional and
continental trade laws, which Ghana has willingly signed on to and committed to promote and protect. Courtesy of the AfCFTA, and its
Secretariat hosting,

“Mr President, given that the upcoming AfCFTA implementation presents a huge opportunity for countries to review domestic trade laws to agree with the continental space, it becomes instructive that Your excellency be further invited to also take an urgent look at and action on issues.”

Other issues the trader association wants looked into includes, unlawful collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on transit services, as VAT should be pro-rated and charged on only the distance covered in the Ghana territory, in direct adherence to the existing VAT Law 2013 (Act 870); the lack of uniformity in the issuance of ninety (90) day
Residence Permit to visiting ECOWAS/African citizens; the issuance of identity Card for Non-Ghanaian African citizens, including migrants of ECOWAS/African Member States, for 120 USD per year and 60 USD annual renewal fee thereafter; the issuance of Work Permit for non-Ghanaian African citizens, including migrants of ECOWAS/African Member States, for 300 USD per year.

“Similar to the above, Mr President, is the institution/collection of a $200 transit fee levied by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on export consignments in transit through frontier stations, which should be reviewed as it contravenes the ECOWAS Inter States Road Transit Convention (ISRT) and the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) which are building blocks to the AfCFTA.

“The repeal of those sections of the law (i.e. the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (Management/Amendment) Act (614), 2002 and Section 48 Sub-section 2 of PNDC L 330 as amended by the Commissioner’s Order No. 6 of 2002), have become imperative, especially since the latter law was repealed by section 152(1) of Customs Act 891 of 2015 and considering that no such fees are imposed at the seaports and airports for the transit import trade.

“Your Excellency may wish to note that Ghana has become and assumes the trade capital of Africa; and so, no African citizen should be further subjected, deemed to be or regarded as a foreigner in Ghana again; never again!

“Your Excellency, given that your background as a sound and respected lawyer of long standing and repute, we humbly invite you to now take another URGENT look at the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) Act 865 (2013), which was enacted to phase out and replace the previous GIPC Act 478 (1994).

“We invite you Mr President to particularly peruse section 27 thereof, which stipulates that “a person who is not a citizen or an enterprise which is not wholly owned by Ghanaian citizen shall not invest or participate in the sales of goods or provision of services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any
place,” the Nigerian traders said.

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