The government officials addressing the meeting
PRESIDENT OF the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr. Joseph Obeng, has appealed to the Attorney General and Interpol International, to find an international arbitration and legal system to help victims of this car stealing retrieve their moneys.
According to him, such a legal system would help keep the victims, who were mostly third party buyers, in business.
“There is, therefore, the need to find an effective mechanism that will help dealers to identify and make stolen cars difficult to be shipped.
“It will also save a dealer unnecessary cost of shipment, duty payments and other inconveniences only for the cars to be seized on arrival, which does not augur well for the economies of the business community and the nation at that,” he said.
He made the appeal at the meeting of the Chamber Of Automobile Dealership Ghana (CADEG) with state institutions in Accra.
The meeting was to find ways of preventing automobile dealers from incurring losses as a result of crime they may not be directly involved in.
“Much as we cannot dispute the fact that there may be some recalcitrant dealers, we know the majority of these dealers are more of victims than culprits,” he said.
CADEG Secretary, George Dumenu, said the stakeholder engagement has become imperative due to the recent raid mentioned earlier, subsequent arrest and harassment of some owners of these dealerships.
“We are of the view that these inspectorate agencies are required to verify all these vehicles, their requisite documents, and approve same before we are allowed to pay huge import taxes to the state,” he said.
Mr. Dumenu said, “In our opinion, majority of these cars are actually not stolen cars as it is being alleged. Is it possible that an ordinary Ghanaian importer cannot outwit the inspectorate agencies of developed countries like the USA and Canada?”
He, thus, noted that the meeting was to afford members the opportunity to seek clarity to enable CADEG educate its members, our customers and the public.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri