Traders in local markets have been urged to claim their rights to free trade and movement across West Africa.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which gave the advice during its ECOWAS National Sensitisation Campaign directly targeted at traders, said it had set up an ECOWAS National Office to deal with challenges reported by traders and seek intervention with the ECOWAS Commission.
The campaign, held at Makola in Accra last Friday, was aimed at demystifying ECOWAS protocols that many traders struggle to navigate at the borders.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Director of the MFA, Khadija Iddrisu, said the engagement was designed to tackle the daily frustrations traders faced and urged traders not to make unauthorised payments.
"Too often, we hear of goods being held up at borders for days, with demand for documents traders are not even aware of and for payments that shouldn't be made.
This campaign exists because we want to address these unpleasant issues," she said.
Opportunities
Ms Iddrisu urged traders to be abreast of the opportunities under the ECOWAS protocol, including the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), which allows goods originating from member states with a valid Certificate of Origin to cross borders duty-free; the Protocol on Free Movement that allows visa-free stay for 90 days with a valid passport or Ghana Card; the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme for vehicle owners travelling across borders and the ECOWAS small-scale cross-border trade policy that targets women as key drivers of food security.
"The manifestation that regional integration is working is when traders can move freely without any let or hindrance," she stressed, adding that the campaign will be extended to the Madina Market and the Elubo border in the coming weeks.
Potential
For his part, the Resident Representative of ECOWAS in Ghana, Mohammed Lawan Gana, said the sensitisation came at a critical time when ECOWAS must move from "ECOWAS of states to ECOWAS of people."
Traders during the ECOWAS National Sensitisation Campaign
"Our region is endowed with enormous human capital, about 400 million population and a growing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about $800 billion.
It is a region that has a lot of potential to tap and we can only achieve that if we are pursuing regional integration," he said.
According to him, traders must be better informed about cross-border opportunities, while youth, women, farmers and transport operators must be empowered to benefit from integration.
“Citizens must also play a role in promoting peace and countering disinformation,” Mr Gana stated.
The Vice-President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Joseph Pardy, said economic integration had remained elitist for five decades.
"The knowledge of understanding the significance of economic integration is limited to only our heads of state, foreign ministers and perhaps Members of Parliament," he lamented.
Mr Pardy commended the Foreign Ministry for bringing governance closer to traders and called on traditional authorities, embassies and the media to sustain the education.
