A story is told of a West African who attended a formal dinner in a western country. To the chagrin of his hosts, he did not only eat all the food but kept chewing the hard bones and making a lot of delightful noises in the process. “Why are you chewing your bones?" they asked. "Bones are delicious and full of calcium. We chew them a lot in my country he answered. " “Really!” they exclaimed. “What do you feed your dogs?” “Bread and butter”, he answered.
If a Ghanaian were to attend a conference on our markets and the economy, I can imagine the hosts asking about the sources and rate of employment in Ghana. The answer will be 20 per cent are by the government and formalised industrial and service sectors while 80 per cent are small businesses in markets, kiosks, artisans, fitters, spare-parts dealers, tailors, dress-makers, hairdressers, taxi and tro-tro drivers, food vendors, provision sellers, male and female farmers, etc.
How many Ghanaians have bank accounts? Answer is less than 30 per cent. Over 70 per cent of Ghanaians do not keep their money in the bank. They stash them in boxes, pillows, metal-trunks, mattresses, hand-dug and covered pits on farms, and in kiosks and market stalls.
“What is the main function of your local government assemblies?” Article 245 of the 1992 Constitution provides that the major function of a district assembly is to formulate and execute plans, programmes and strategies for the effective mobilisation of the resources necessary for the overall development of the district including the duty of the assembly to levy and collect taxes, rates, duties and fees. “Who are the largest contributors to the assemblies’ resources?” The markets. Who are the key players in your markets? Women. The markets are the major centres of trade in Ghana and continue to be the domain of women. That is why we have the terminology “market-women” in Ghana and parts of West Africa. The yoking together of the words - market and women - shows clearly that women are identified with the economic centre of our societies. “Really! Are your markets skyscrapers, or townships and campuses?” No they are largely wooden dilapidated structures, with no plumbing, water or sanitary facilities and minimum security.
There were six fire outbreaks in major markets in Accra in the first quarter of 2013, including the Kinbu, Konkomba, Kantamanto and Makola No. 2 markets, all in a space of one month. Makola No. 2 market has suffered two fire outbreaks in two years.
During the previous fire-outbreak at Makola No. 2 Market, over 800 stores with goods worth millions of Ghana cedis, were burnt. We have seen on TV and heard on radio the deep wailing of women for their burnt goods and loss of income for paying their children’s school-fees.
A woman in the Makola No. 2 market disaster reported that she had lost in the fire, GH¢8,000 (i.e., 80 million old cedis) which she had saved in her store. Another woman said that she had recently travelled to China to purchase goods worth GH¢36,000 which she had just started selling in her store when the fire burnt all the goods.
Fire disasters have also occurred at Dome and Kumasi markets. Kumasi market is world renowned and was the source of research and publication of a book titled "Onions are my husband: Survival and Accumulation by West African Market Women", written by Gracia Clark of Indiana University, which I found in the US Library of Congress and the British Council Library. Also in the US Library of Congress is a book Chapter on Accra market women by Claire Robertson, titled ' Comparative advantage: Women in trade in Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya.
This forms part of a publication on “African Market Women and Economic Power; The Role of Women in African Economic Development.”
Claire Robertson also has to her credit, a study on Ga market women.
Against this informative background, the writer would humbly recommend and appreciate a serious policy consideration of our markets in terms of infrastructure, security, water, sanitation, energy, accessibility, fire exits, fire-drills, fire-alarms and extinguishers for early fire detection and prevention.
There is also the need for educational outreach programmes, counselling and support services in savings and various forms of investments, including treasury bills, fixed deposits, m-fund, insurance policies including the Done-well insurance traders protection policy. SSNIT needs more micro- centres in our markets and trade hubs to reach out and collect voluntary informal pension contributions from traders.
In WABA’s workshop with the Internal Revenue Service (now part of the Ghana Revenue Authority) and market women in Eastern Region, the traders recommended that tax stamps must be collected quarterly and promptly instead of accumulating them over several quarters before lump-collection. With regard to district assemblies, there is the need for them to minimise their over-dependence on releases from the common fund which are usually in arrears (the Common Fund for the last quarter of 2012 was released to assemblies in June 2013.)It is advisable to increase their internally generated funds by supporting and enabling small businesses to thrive.
Traders and street vendors have a major challenge with finding locations for their business.
The assemblies must work closely with small businesses including markets and street vendor associations as obtains in some countries in order to identify and meet their needs so that they will have the opportunity to levy and collect improved and better taxes, rates, duties and fees for development.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a US government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the SBA is "to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters". The US Senate and House Committees on Small Business and Entrepreneurship are standing committees which assist the SBA and work on researching and investigating all problems of American small business enterprises.
The Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Association of Bankers can engage with the market women and other traders who have lost massive sums of cash and goods in the recent fire outbreaks to fashion out financial packages including disaster mitigation loans which will benefit both the financial institutions and their clients.
By Gloria Ofori-Boadu/Daily Graphic/Ghana
The writer is a Lawyer and President, Women Assistance and Business Association, WABA.
