The scrap dealers protesting in Kumasi
ALL BUSINESS activities at the Suame Magazine in Kumasi came to a temporary standstill after some angry-looking scrap dealers staged a peaceful demonstration over a ban on exportation of scraps.
Wearing red armbands and chanting war songs, the members of the group calling itself ‘Progressive Scrap Dealers Association’ said they were losing their jobs as a result of some policies including a ban on scraps and unfair trade relations between scrap dealers and steel companies in the country.
The Secretary of the association, Nasiru Mohammed, after the protest march, passionately appealed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry to come to their aid so they could revive their businesses and continue to contribute to national growth through the payment of taxes.
“We are serving notice to all stakeholders, particularly government, to mediate to ensure that scrap dealers are respected in mutual trade relations with steel companies and as a matter of urgency lift the ban on scraps export to make the industry competitive.
“It is our collective conviction that this would be urgently treated without any compromise to avert any unpleasant recourse in the face of consistent challenges, threatening the collapse of the businesses of our members,” he appealed.
“Whilst the steel industry in Ghana, which is fed with materials by the scrap industry, is globally competitive in terms of pricing regime and export, pricing of scraps and the decision to buy or withhold purchase of scraps and payments, is solely the decision of the steel companies,” he added.
Because of this unfortunate development, Nasiru Mohammed lamented: “Any imposition of taxes on the steel industry by government is virtually offloaded to the tottering scrap industry by consistently reducing prices from which they purchase scraps whilst steel products are well priced.”
He stated that it was about time government intervened so that all the injustices and maltreatment being meted out to scrap dealers in the country would stop, saying “review the discriminatory trade policy regime that has rendered the indigenous scrap industry non-competitive, threatening its survival”
