President Failed To Address Our Main Concerns – GUTA

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), has expressed mixed feelings about President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s address stating that he failed to address the concerns of the Association.  

The Vice President of GUTA, Mr. Clement Boateng, stated that some of the measures by the president, particularly the denial of haircuts on investments, were heartwarming.

Reacting to the president’s address in an interview, Mr. Boateng said the main concern of GUTA was the act of pegging import duties at the port to the dollar.

He said every week, import duties at the ports are increased because of the cedi’s depreciation.

“We are disappointed in the president for failing to address this significant concern of members of GUTA.”

“You go to the port and clear goods at GHS100,000 and you go there next week to clear the same goods, the import duty has jumped to GHS150,000,” he lamented.”

He expressed that this worrying phenomenon needed to have featured in the president’s address to the nation.

He added that it is a result of these charges and inflation at the port that has contributed to the rising cost of goods and services in the country.

He said GUTA will continue to push for many of these issues to be addressed by the government, especially the matters GUTA agreed on in the meeting with the president when they embarked on the sit-down strike.

He revealed that the leadership of the Association will be meeting today to review the president’s address and chart the way forward.

Reacting to the president’s speech in its scope, a senior lecturer at the Accra Technical University‘s (ATU) business department Mr. Daniel Osabutey, has called on the government to stop quoting import duties in dollars.

According to him, our attitudes as Ghanaians have contributed to the loss of confidence in the cedi.

“We need to respect our currency,” he said.