Protect the local entrepreneur
Seriously, there is some level of imitation of manufactured products in this country and the perpetration of this vice is threatening the survival of some major industries as well as private entrepreneurship which hitherto employed a huge number of youth who had just graduated from school.
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During the good old days, the textiles sector in particular commandeered a whopping 25,000 workforce, and these employees were the major breadwinners in their respective families because they earned regular incomes. They were solvent enough to shoulder some of the responsibilities of the family members.
There were other productive ventures which also employed a large number of employees who also contributed to the economic boom this country enjoyed in the 1960s and 70s.
With time, all these economic gains were eroded either through mismanagement or the inability of our local industries to fairly compete with the imported products which were inferior and cheap.
Along the line as our industries started collapsing and ownership started to change hands (from state-owned to private ownership) in the 1980s, some of these local companies managed to weather the storm and faced the challenges in order to keep running.
It was not easy but they managed to survive and have ever since remained viable even though their gains have been eroded considerably.
In the wake of all these difficulties came the major threat posed to our industries by the invasion of the Chinese, who flooded our markets with cheap and inferior products that kept threatening the survival of our industries.
Some Chinese companies with the connivance of their Ghanaian counterparts engage in thievery, where they steal the motifs and designs of some major textile companies in Ghana such as Tex Styles Ghana Limited, the Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL), as well as Printex.
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They imitate the designs at no cost to them and produce similar products which they smuggle into the country and distribute to unsuspecting wholesalers and textile distributors who sell them at giveaway prices.
This nefarious act has seriously undermined the survival of these textile industries and it is having a huge toll on their liquidity. ATL for instance is currently struggling to offset a huge loan it took from ECOBANK and being threatened with liquidation.
Tex Styles Limited and Printex are also struggling to break even. The task force that has been instituted by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to get rid of imitated textiles from the local markets is still struggling to sanitise the system.
What came as a shock to me just last Monday, which must be a wake-up call to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, is the way some foreigners are trying to counterfeit almost everything that is produced locally or that has been initiated by local entrepreneurs.
A friend of mine told me about how she went to the market to buy some items including Teacher Mackerel.
According to my friend, the shop owner informed her that there were two types of the Teacher Mackerel; one was sold at GH¢6.50, while the other was GH¢5.
She enquired why the disparity in the prices even though both of them were of the same size.
My friend said the shop owner explained to her that the GH¢6.50 one was the original product while the one selling at GH¢5 was from China. She expressed shock over this revelation and finally opted for the GH¢6.50 one.
After listening to this story I was dumbfounded and wondered what was going on in this country.
Why would the Chinese ride on the shoulders of hardworking Ghanaians to reap where they have not sown? Do they lack ideas and innovation?
I think it is time the Food and Drugs Board, the Ghana Standards Authority and other affiliates woke up to their responsibilities and stopped these unscrupulous persons who have teamed up with the Chinese businessmen in their tracks.
It is unfortunate that some foreign citizens and their local collaborators are taking advantage of our favourable economic environment and trade laws for granted and engaging in undercutting deals.
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I think the Ghanaian entrepreneur deserves better. Let us protect our own.