GUTA strike: Business slows in Accra as traders close shops in protest | Citi Newsroom

now it's time for us to get into a conversation this morning about what's happening on the ground in Ghana now um the Traders advocacy group gonna have been quite vocal about the fact that we need to uh people need to make money people need to you know stimulate growth in terms of the economy and all of that and so they are very much against guta's position that is the Ghana Union of Traders Association position on the shutting down of shops um you know to make a statement to government well we have a couple of reports for you just take a look at both positions on this matter and we'll come back and get into some conversations head to Edge our members to keep their shops open although crossing our shops may seem to be the right way to protest this unbearable economic crisis it will only worsen our problems as Traders in the long term we still have to feed our children and bear all the responsibilities in spite of the hardship currently even with our shops open we are unable to do so effectively so what then happens when we close our shop there is no need the interest on our loans will keep piling up our children's face will remain unpaid and we shall lose the very few customers we have been trying to maintain the meeting by the Ghana Union of Traders associations Gupta and the Council of state was on the back of an earlier engagement between both parties a month ago after ghouta had hinted of striking of economic hardships members of ghouta claimed the advisory Council had shown less commitment in addressing their concerns on Tuesday the Traders walked into the meeting with red armbands raising concerns over the high exchange rate interest rates and inflation rate which are making the cost of doing business high prices of our Commodities have been increased by two or even more it's all about the dollars we are only crying because of the dollars safer has been increased even the naira the city is just it's just like a baby sucking a breast the city is no more valued the city is actually nothing to the Ghanaian Trader now this is my anxious business this is the business I dance so you import this one that's the packages yes I import the package from China and how much do you pay for one um formerly it was um because the dollar rate was 80 pesos for one now it is three cities because of the rate of the dollar because of the rate of the dollar so three reasons for one package we're coming down here how will I manage it at first I normally sell it to 15 cities now it's 30 cities double the price so when you have any Investments you should know that you have lost almost 50 percent within the last three months and you cannot sit down and watch your investment go down the drain and if government has made any pronouncements or interventions that will make us know that at least there's something being done obviously there'll be some confidence being established for us to know exactly what we are doing but unfortunately for the past three months all the interventions that or whatever has been announced you cannot see anywhere however after an hour of Engagement with the Council of State the Traders say the Assurance is giving them were not realistic any importer will come now is for import is for Christmas festive so when so in this today's meeting I asked the Finance Minister was not in this meeting this is all the deputies not even the chief director from the minister of an hour was in this meeting so if this truly that they want to give us a specific rate for that we will use for the next three months while there was nobody from the Minister of Finance to represent the major Finance I agree that the customer here the customer I know this isn't the case when they come to policy making it is not about custom when it comes to implementation that's where custom comes in I gave this back job Guta declared as resolved to go ahead with this intended shop closure to take effect on Wednesday October 19 2022 by The Authority invested in me by the trading Community I declare all shops in Greater Accra goes from tomorrow Wednesday 19th October 2022 to Monday president of Guta Dr Joseph obain explained that the protest is to draw government's attention to the unbearable hardships his members are bedeviled with main problem that is working against our very existence had been the essay rate the inflation and the interest rate it is getting at all of businesses from this uh from January to date almost every Trader have gotten his Capital halved where it has been reduced by about 50 percent let me give you illustration if your Capital used to be 620 000 you could buy hundred thousand dollars from the beginning of the year now you could only be able to buy about forty nine thousand dollars with the same Capital that you used to have that's how serious our program is and we are calling on the government to um as a matter of agency three days with a sense of urgency the dollar which you used to sell at about six Ghana cedis in January 2022 is now selling at 13 Ghana cedis as of October the same year all right so there you have it you heard the various leaders of the different groups speaking um you know to their issues and how it is that they see the situation and what they're expecting those who belong to their groups to do of course they're advocating for different uh positions entirely one says that listen Ghana is already hard as it is and so we can't afford to close shops and not make any Revenue another one says that listen we are losing value and so if we don't make a statement to government to act ASAP whatever money you had three months ago is half of its value today you know and so this is a situation with financial Bible crossing over to a frema to find out from frame what's really going on on the ground FEMA yes David yes so um take us into the action that's happening this morning what are you experiencing well so um as I mentioned earlier I'm on the Main Street of abusol kind you know now when it gets here you see some of the shops closed now you can tell from shops behind me that um they are closed you know that some of the shop owners are around they are standing outside just to send a message across that um the economy is really hard and so they are closing their shop to send a message to the government that things must change you know and don't forget that this is coming on the background of um one of their colleagues in I think sometime last week or closing their shots for about five days you know and then now they are open that is time for the shops in Accra to also do so bus oh and she was going to shop name is [Music] foreign foreign foreign foreign 500. because yes he deal with the politicians because to benefit yourself foreign I think he made some pretty interesting points um because what he's saying is that as as long as the the dollar rate changes all Traders are increasing their prices accordingly to suit themselves exactly so in a sentence Traders have never lost out it is there it is we the consumers who are losing out and so he doesn't understand why um the the Gupta is saying that you know close your stores because um it's hard there's hardship for Traders I I think it's a very interesting position yeah it is interesting but Guta is also saying that now when they have to increase their prices they are passing on to Consumers which ineffective consumers are not buying is affecting them but anyway that is where he stands you know that is his understanding yes let's try to talk to those who have also closed their shop I offer good morning Michael Michael most Shopkins because foreign [Music] foreign I'll say I say I say I say I know we'll be in the shop s foreign foreign right so he believes um that his shop should be closed just to send a message like Guta has directed and so this is what is happening now um I'm gonna go outside from Justice okay um you know Rising David so there are those who believe that the Sharks must be closed just to send the right signal and there are also those who believe that it doesn't make any sense to them you know to get a shot close so they are opening their shops but they think that they can sell um where red said put you know red bands on them just to send the same message across now I'm going to another ad you know here we have some of the shorts closed some open interestingly they closed the shops but they are still standing around so now when you check this yard you notice that well some have opened their shop jobs some have closed their shops good morning good morning good morning uh oh okay and I am boss good morning too much because dollar rate two months ago eight cities foreign dancer all the best ones well so David yeah that is it you know he still has to come around just to sit down you know no matter how much you want to buy from him today he will not sell to you so this is the message they are sending across and it's quite tense but yeah you know but I think those who have their shops open are going to make a good cashing in today because if if somebody well it is what it is you know yeah Auntie good morning Association of Association members please please so so how was business today oh you're buying a customers normal Freddie about her Mumbai no my name is headlights forklites everything dealing with car body parts we have it but you know the the concern why Gupta is in people to close their shops is the fact that hold on so so is the fact that um you know the dollar is rising there are so many difficulties economic challenges and stuff like that and that is why they are directing traders to close their shops just to um send a message to government you know and paint a clear picture to God but don't you agree with them to be honest I don't want to comment about the dollar because you know we've been dealing with this issue for so many years and it's the same so it's either you come to work or you close it and have chosen to come to work so thank you very much welcome dear okay so this is it you know it looks like it's kind of well Google has directed but it is an individual decision and I must say that there's police around you know just to make sure that there's some kind of Law and Order you have the right to decide on what you want to do if you want to close your shop feel free to do so if you want to open you can do so but police is making sure that nobody is harassed nobody is attacked as we stand here we've seen um the police patrol vehicle you know about twice there are also officers who are walking on the streets just to make sure that there is some kind of Sanity while people decide to send that message across to government so we're still here at um and I can see some shops already displaying their words you know whilst others are also sitting down idle and will not sell to anybody Auntie okay all right so this is it we are still here so I think that we may want to go really onto the streets and see other areas what exactly is going on so is the situation here at abusokai now if you are not sure so ghouta has directed that from today till Monday shops should be closed and this ends because they want to send a message across and um to to drum home the fact that there's too much hardship in the economy and so this is why we're experiencing what we are experienced but I must say that if you are watching us yes David yeah so I want us to cross over to okaishi right now uh Caleb is there okay we'll engage him and find out what's happening in okaishi and then we'll come back to you later right all right thank you okay all right yeah so we've been speaking with uh my colleague frema edunanyame who is in abusokai and basically bringing us some updates as to what is happening on the ground I'm very happy to hear that the police are there in their numbers uh patrolling both on foot and in vehicles to ensure that the sanity and nobody's taking advantage of anybody else in this situation where there's uh differing opinions as to what exactly we're doing you know some people guten say close all shops uh tag is saying feel free to go to work if you want to go to work and so as you can see there some people have gone to work some others have decided not to open their shops and the arguments on both sides make sense right so you have those who are saying that we need to send a clear or the clearest message to government to say listen do something about this now if you don't do something about this now we are the country is going down as far as the business sector is concerned right and then tag is also saying listen the country is already hard as it is people are already struggling as it is people already having you know um their harsh conditions and people are already having difficulties as it is and so why are you going to say to the person who needs to make some kind of income so that they can pay for you know their their food on the table for tomorrow morning why are you going to say don't go to work and the money is going to come from where you know and so um these two different positions have been taken and clients have been drawn clearly and we're grateful to the police for also being present so that nobody takes advantage of it of the situation to uh you know wreak havoc on anybody else who doesn't believe the same as they do my colleague Caleb has joined us he's in okaishi that's why I was happy with Caleb in or cashier Caleb good morning uh yes um how is okaishi this morning coming from New Orleans um [Music] let me give you an idea the the journey through that we came through the Kwame nkrumah um avenues that is coming from madabaka all the way through to the central business district and everything attends you to went past um [Music] drove ground and the journey has been very fluid you know that around this time at the central distance between the national capital there'll be a lot of traffic yes and it mainly from the Kwame nkrumah Highway even towards five minutes oh really yeah it was less than five minutes wow typically when you get to kancha mancho there's a lot of traffic people are loading it's not a Pavements are working there the reality is that on the pavement people are selling those who are selling clothes who have mannequins on the road who are selling things I'm sorry but if you talk about the major shops many of them are shots for example from the 10 from cancer Manchester was to do okay for the first test ride all the way towards the main Central police mptd for that side most of them are selling by the roadside Hawkins but when you get to the police station to us to do where most of the shops are almost all of them are shot so if you get to do Papa going towards the whole seminar is where you find the uh Black Market people you find out of about 15 shots you have between 25 open were open now if you drive around and then you get into the makola mall my goodness most of them are sure I spoke to one lady who said she's a staff so they take care in terms of administration and servicing of the place she tells me about 95 percent of those shops are shot and I live in a few that open they'll be closing soon it becomes the macular Mall okay what is sold there you want me ask you have hair products to mix you have clothes you have fabrics for sewing office where things like that most of them are shut and you'll find a few people sitting outside no selling uh fancy KK and even them they are not in their numbers now the main idea people shop is shot if you drive past the the rolling Circle going towards White Chapel going towards foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] was open but many of the electrical shops around those areas are closed where you get to buy kitchenware and things like that they are also because there's a lady here I just want to pick it up quickly to find out from here what is happening what's your name yes foreign now on that side on that side of the of The Enclave do you find the same um roughly the same number of shops open as a fan of the to-do side so I would say I saw um in terms of the number of shoes that were open to do open more than uh every other side I've been to okay now macular has been extremely effective in terms of compliance because over there you couldn't even count the number of shops there was extinguished shop that was open the only people you see are people who are down there saying they sell um these news and academic news and things like that okay where they were out there on a not in the shops but they were out there selling so I think this is blue business there chances are you know your customers location today occurrency that that means a lot well you can see most of the tissues are up there yeah right and here we share other things but how much is that on the pavement within operations today some have set up but you can pick typically I understand yeah yes yes really reduced because uh actually because you see I I think three years ago the announcement came that shot should be open right and uh so that's I think yesterday also they came back telling us that we should open right so thank you if I don't know how it's going to be back okay technically help shut down and maybe take it out yes that's from where you see it that's right thank you so much please [Music] calculating and that will be because then if you are on the streets of your country you will see the regular umbrellas and trucks and all and it's creating some semblance of activity but if you look at the main shops many many of them are actually close all right Caleb thank you very much for your time and for being as uh you know what's happening on the ground so we've been looking at uh some you know experiences that are happening in the different trade sectors um across the capital we've looked at okaishi it's a very bustling Hub you know of fabric trade um hair accessories trade uh you know clothing trade both you know brand new clothing and second-hand clothing and all of that paints different things that are happening in okaishi um and then of course the abusoka and that's a car hop and um all core forms of spare parts and car parts sold over there and so the different experiences in different parts of the trading sector well we're not done with this yet we're going to go back to frema um to find out what else she's experiencing on the ground after this short break don't go anywhere we will be right back [Music] thank you everybody knows Aqua battle and even knows it means you know M punch homeopathic Clinic as International journalist and actor my health is my priority Clinic a smart pillar in terms of my health let's hear what others are saying about everyone from your particular sister please [Music] hello babe wow I'm glad you called see you know as we're eating and I thought the food was so delicious eh but I knew there was something equally delicious and that is you guess what my car broke down I was left stranded and super stupid until your dad even offered me a ride and burn it to your home please took my eyes on you babe I couldn't help but shoot my shot at a dining table and that was the biggest hour of the day [Music] [Music] if you led me to you the love of my life so guess who's going to be my best man Micah I mean won't you talk hello Lily tasty food happy family this update is FDA approved regardless of what your point of view may be he holds a mirror for you to see the reflection of reality two young men brilliant students best student in school he says I believe in this as my identity My Religion you say no we'll take him because it breaks discipline I think we should not be at the wrong side of History this passionate opinions that shape your point of view I ask for the president's credibility in terms of anti-corruption I'm afraid to say he's in touches an analytical and non-partisan Province [Music] this year forget it dialogue that informs your social political point of 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we helped the Next Generation Well our struggles may be singular but our Destinies are shared [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] welcome back guys breakfast daily and we are having some Community focused conversations this morning the hashtag is breakfast there they keep using it and I was applying it's zero five five zero five eight five eight three two now we're going to go back to frima and join her in abusoka and find out what else she has found out about what's going on on the ground in abusokai from a good morning again yes David yes yeah good morning again yeah so what else are you finding out yes well so I'm still here at abusoka now when I come here this morning you see there are those who whose shops have been closed but they have come to work just to make a certain statement and there are those also feel that well closing your shop will not really make much of a difference and so we believe that we have to open our shops all kinds of conversations are going on you know I've had interesting conversations from people whose shops um have been closed and those whose are open as well so okay so there's a gentleman here I don't know what exactly is doing he's doing it looks like he's opening his shop so let's find out Monday morning boss good morning how are you sir what's happening what do you say baby yeah you okay baby I don't like that way but yeah okay okay family Monday episode foreign so that is okay right okay coconut oh nice one okay Uncle good morning how are you today uh madam this is not yeah if you have five thousand five thousand s in my debians you know yeah yeah foreign foreign not just a majority majority and our customers 170. okay foreign before I'm in control foreign foreign why thank you why okay all right well so um his issue is government I mean the story is the same you know things really need to come down yeah there's too much hardship in the economy which is affecting their businesses they are family people they also need to see um some kind of improvement you know in the kind of work they are doing I have another gentleman here with me he probably might have um opposing views you know so let's find out from him when you when you look at him he has um read all over him he's wearing a red smoke he's wearing um red wristbands and have something right on his head as well red red now and she showed what is the point uh it is a way of demonstrating to the government I I I I I don't believe in closing the shop but I believe in demonstrating whilst I'm wearing this to show the government that I am very very uh uh uh troubled about the the economy or the our Capital that is going down every day right now has government not seen enough demonstrations you know know people marching on the streets just to drum home their issues nothing seems to be done about it don't you think that if the shops are closed and then you get customers also come in to add their voices to the difficulty they come they don't get the things to buy wouldn't this send a stronger message to government so why is your shop open uh if I can recall some years back we demonstrate cockroaching our shops uh a government official was telling us that we Traders we don't have holidays we we we we we we can close our shop and go and rest in our houses it means that what we are doing closing our shop they don't seem to uh uh uh go with us so we have done this in several times closing stores but we have not got any results so if you continue to close our store it will not add up to anything so me I believe we open up our stores then continue to demonstrate making sure we engage the government we engage the government so that it can come up with policies that will help us to to to stabilize the dollar is that not what Guta is doing Buddha is doing doing it in his own way and with that trade advocacy group of Ghana we believe that closures of stars is not the point it's not that the issue the issue is that the little Capital you are having in your hands you close your store that little Capital you are going to spend it in the house you are going to destroy it and you to go down again and it will not benefit you the dollar will not come down as you are sitting in the house so the dollar will will you have to open your store and be doing business and be waiting the dialogue in with the with the government then we will find a solution for the dollar to come down that is not antigutta we are Trade Organization and not that Trade Organization we have our policy you know it's not like we are not against anybody we are doing what we feel uh the government would listen to us that's what we are doing we are not against anybody right now um so tag and Gupta are fighting the same cause for the betterment of Traders has tagged in a way engaged Gupta to come into an agreement so that the force will be stronger to send your message across now that have made himself uh he is the oldest group a group group no uh Gupta have made himself like he's the oldest group in Ghana so therefore they don't recognize the other organization that is the other their problem if they should recognize us as a group that talking the same language for Traders we could have admit on a round table in in Georgia but so long as they don't recognize us as a Trade Organization we have our policy and we will have to go along with it so apart from wearing red you know just to send message across and demonstrating and all what has tag done for the Ghanaian Trader we have put so many things in place we we we we we try to educate them about how to keep uh their uh their accounts bookkeeping we went around educating them how when the the coffee came we went round and you know educate them about how to keep themselves uh so that they will not attract those diseases with so many things right now what about you know trade policies from government and all that what you're doing is amazing it's fantastic because we need the human beings to stay healthy but what about issues like this what has brought um us to this situation people closing their shots now you also Run Red bands what are you doing in that regard that our Executives we were called to the uh to the uh the government officials the [Music] his Deputy we have their financial Minister was there we have the gra boss Amin Shada he was also there with a government official who we sat down last week we sat with them and we were telling them that they must stop what they are doing pressing placing a custom officer on various uh uh stores that will not have they should redraw that one so that we'll find a makeable solution to to implement and so they withdraw that problem that that uh way that they want to use to collect money from children they have withdrawed their suspended for three months we went there and we went there where yeah we went there and talk talk about that so they have rejoined and they say we should go back and educate our Traders and and tell them that they want to they want to collect vat so that they can develop the the the country so we shall educate our our members so that in three men's time they will come and Implement that but that one still we are not uh satisfied with we will continue to dialogue with them until we we come to a final solution so so for those um traders who have their shops closed and are home what message do you have for them we will tell them that in their own interests if they they want to stay home and be eating the little money that they are having in in their house and and to affect their Capital so be it they can continue but we don't believe in sitting in the house we believe in opening hours doing business and the same time negotiating with the government that is what we believe in what's your name I'm Abraham that protocol officer I am the representative of the of the attack members in Abu sokai okay okay thank you very much sir no mentioned okay right so that is it now it looks like it's a bit heated you know so we have those who believe that the shops must be open because sending your message is not about you closing your shop because that was the point in trying to close us up um when you are still fighting for money according to tag this is not making sense to them so they believe that shops must be open and still negotiate with the government but others also say that this is not the first time you're trying to engage governments you know on this and so they believe that shops must be closed and so this is where we stand now so there's there's another shop here that is um open so really if you really need to buy stuff you know in abasokai you may not get the shop that you regularly buy from but I must tell you that there are some that are open and so if you still need to come maybe you should good morning sir good morning foreign foreign foreign foreign [Music] you know and according to him he believes that just must be open he admits that there are troubles in the system but this is not a way to get the solution we can't use arrogance in dealing with our leaders as according to him um we should be able to find a way to you know dialogue with the government just so whatever Traders are looking for will be given to them David so this is where we are so for those who believe that their shot must be closed their shops are closed and those who believe that this is not the way to go they have opened their shops this is situation at abusokai currently it's fantastic thank you very much frema for bringing us those updates and Mr assuming has spoken pretty wise words and I hope that the absolutely are hearing um exactly what we have enjoyed from my thank you very much we'll come back to you at another point in time um yeah so we're going to take a quick break don't go anywhere my first daily will continue shortly thank you [Music]

2022-10-22 03:33

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