Traders chase out task force, Tuesday, August 23, 2011.
The Makola 31st December Market was on Monday thrown into a state of pandemonium when members of the Local Textile Designers Task Force, which went to the market to seize what were considered illegal prints, were chased away by the traders.
Numbering more than 15, the members of the task force, some of whom had earlier impounded some of the textiles, were chased out of the market by the traders amid insults and heckling.
The task force was established in 2010 and given the mandate to monitor the movement of smuggled fabrics, target relevant warehouses and seize for destruction pirated and smuggled textile prints to deter the dealers and others who may be tempted to deal in such goods.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, a trader whose name is being withheld, said the team arrived, at the market at about 9:00.a.m and, without any permission, entered some of the shops and started pulling out clothes.
The woman, who said she had lost three pieces in an earlier raid, stated that the task force broke into shops and seized as many cloths as they could lay their hands on with the claim that the designs belonged to local manufacturers, including Tex Styles Ghana Limited, formerly Ghana Textile Printing, and the Akosombo Textiles Limited.
She said it was wrong for the task force to seize their goods at the points of sale, since officers of both the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) working at entry points compelled the importers to pay heavy duties on the imported textiles.
Another trader said it was regrettable that members of the task force, instead of working with the traders in harmony to control the system, resorted to open confrontation.
“When they arrived in my shop, they did not even bother to greet and brief the traders of their mission to the market; they just went straight in and I had to restrain them,” the trader said.
She alleged that members of the task force struggled with her and pushed her around to enter her shop.
When contacted, the President of the Makola Cloth Sellers Association, Ms Elizabeth Mensah, said the traders were fed up with the crackdown on innocent traders who knew next to nothing about the designs belonging to local textile companies.
“We have pleaded with GTP and ATP to educate us on their designs and make them available to us, so that it becomes easier to identify them, but they have refused with the excuse that they have uncountable designs.
“The situation is very bad, traders of this market are law-abiding and would not like to do anything to disturb the peace of the nation, yet we have been the target of this task force and police brutalities for no apparent reason,” she said.
She stated that the traders were losing lot of money due to the raids, adding, “How do they expect us to pay our loans when sometimes as much as 30 pieces of cloth are seized from one trader?”
Ms Mensah appealed to the government, as a matter of urgency, to halt the activities of the task force which broke into the shops of traders and seized their goods without any justifiable reasons.
From over 40 textile firms that employed more than 25,000 people in the last two decades, the country now has only four textile factories employing less than 4,000 people.
The country, according to available information, is losing about GH¢30 million in revenue annually through smuggling of textile materials.
A report on Ghana's textile and garment industry by the institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Legon, said the textile industry employed some 25,000 workers, which accounted for 27 per cent of total manufacturing employment in 1977. By 1995, however, employment within the sub-sector had dwindled to a mere 7,000 and has declined further to 5,000 by 2000.
Numbering more than 15, the members of the task force, some of whom had earlier impounded some of the textiles, were chased out of the market by the traders amid insults and heckling.
The task force was established in 2010 and given the mandate to monitor the movement of smuggled fabrics, target relevant warehouses and seize for destruction pirated and smuggled textile prints to deter the dealers and others who may be tempted to deal in such goods.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, a trader whose name is being withheld, said the team arrived, at the market at about 9:00.a.m and, without any permission, entered some of the shops and started pulling out clothes.
The woman, who said she had lost three pieces in an earlier raid, stated that the task force broke into shops and seized as many cloths as they could lay their hands on with the claim that the designs belonged to local manufacturers, including Tex Styles Ghana Limited, formerly Ghana Textile Printing, and the Akosombo Textiles Limited.
She said it was wrong for the task force to seize their goods at the points of sale, since officers of both the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) working at entry points compelled the importers to pay heavy duties on the imported textiles.
Another trader said it was regrettable that members of the task force, instead of working with the traders in harmony to control the system, resorted to open confrontation.
“When they arrived in my shop, they did not even bother to greet and brief the traders of their mission to the market; they just went straight in and I had to restrain them,” the trader said.
She alleged that members of the task force struggled with her and pushed her around to enter her shop.
When contacted, the President of the Makola Cloth Sellers Association, Ms Elizabeth Mensah, said the traders were fed up with the crackdown on innocent traders who knew next to nothing about the designs belonging to local textile companies.
“We have pleaded with GTP and ATP to educate us on their designs and make them available to us, so that it becomes easier to identify them, but they have refused with the excuse that they have uncountable designs.
“The situation is very bad, traders of this market are law-abiding and would not like to do anything to disturb the peace of the nation, yet we have been the target of this task force and police brutalities for no apparent reason,” she said.
She stated that the traders were losing lot of money due to the raids, adding, “How do they expect us to pay our loans when sometimes as much as 30 pieces of cloth are seized from one trader?”
Ms Mensah appealed to the government, as a matter of urgency, to halt the activities of the task force which broke into the shops of traders and seized their goods without any justifiable reasons.
From over 40 textile firms that employed more than 25,000 people in the last two decades, the country now has only four textile factories employing less than 4,000 people.
The country, according to available information, is losing about GH¢30 million in revenue annually through smuggling of textile materials.
A report on Ghana's textile and garment industry by the institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Legon, said the textile industry employed some 25,000 workers, which accounted for 27 per cent of total manufacturing employment in 1977. By 1995, however, employment within the sub-sector had dwindled to a mere 7,000 and has declined further to 5,000 by 2000.
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