The claim that the government is losing support because of the continued store closures in protest of the Cedi’s depreciation and the high cost of doing business has been refuted by the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association.
This comes in response to claims made by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Michael Okyere Baafi, that the traders association’s move is an attempt to undermine the government.
The Vice President of the Association, Richard Obeng, however, responded to the Deputy Minister’s statement by telling Starr News that their choice to close businesses was unrelated to politics.
He said their action has been taken to ensure the government put in adequate measures to arrest the further depreciation of the Cedi and also reduce the cost of doing business in the country.
“So the Minister is trying to tell us that whatever challenges that we are facing right now he doesn’t see anything wrong? How much do we buy one gallon of petrol, we don’t want to go into politics, we don’t want to politicize this. We are speaking the truth and the truth must be spoken. You will bear me witness, how much petrol do you buy in a week, if it’s not because of Dollar? So we are talking about the way we can measures in place so that at the end of the day, the Dollar will stabilize. If you are claiming that we are trying to make the government unpopular that is not what we are doing,” he said.
He added that, “We all know that Akufo Addo has done well for us the people of Abossey Okai and the importers. He’s done a lot so how can we sabotage him? Whether I belong to NDC or NPP you have no idea. If we go to the fuel station do they ask you whether you are NPP or NDC? No, everybody is being affected, that is what we are speaking about.”
‘Arrest black market dealers’ – Traders as they lock shops in Accra