Outgoing Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has emphasised the need for local textile manufacturers and law enforcement agencies to team up to check the activities of pirates.
According to him, collusion between traders and some customs officials was driving the illegal textile trade, adding that the ministry as a policy maker was not just interested in punishing illegal traders but also in promoting Made-in-Ghana goods.
Speaking to Class Business, Dr Spio-Garbrah said a lot of cooperation between security officers and other stakeholders was needed to effectively deal with the problem of piracy.
“We’ve seized a lot of pirated textiles; we have stored them and burnt some of them openly at the Tema port. The media were there to cover, but the Ministry of Trade and Industry is not a law enforcement agency; we are a policy making institution so we can report to the taskforce, we can report to the police and we expect the garment sellers and textiles companies themselves to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to identify those who are importing these goods into the country. Most of them are pirated textiles or they steal the design from textile companies and get them printed in Asia, often China, and then they bring them in,” he stated.
“It takes a lot of conspirators to make that happen. Some may be custom officers, some may be other importers and clearing agencies, and the traders themselves could be at fault. So one group of traders is selling the legal textiles, another group of traders is also selling the illegal textiles, and then the Ghana Union of Traders Association, which represents both groups sometimes, is confused as to who should do what. But we as policy makers are interested in protecting the Ghanaian industry, so we don’t just want to enforce the law and punish people. We are telling Ghanaians to consciously choose Made-in-Ghana textiles”.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
