A last-minute decision by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoI) to rescind its directive to all foreigners in the domestic retail business to leave the local market before July 27 this year has been met with stiff resistance from the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).

The Ministry issued the directive on July 11, this year, in line with Section 27(1) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act, which debars foreigners from participating in the local retail sector.

Following that directive, some groups mounted pressure on the ministry to rescind its decision, since the move could mar trade relations between Ghana and some West African countries in particular.

In a dramatic twist, the Ministry, in a release signed by its Acting Director, Mr Ebenezer Padi Adjirackor, and issued in Accra on Wednesday, said the directive had been suspended “to intensify sensitisation and education in the domestic retail trade sector.”

In a sharp response to the U-turn, some traders and the national executive of GUTA thronged the premises of the Ministry on Wednesday to ask officials of MoTI to make good their earlier directive.