The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has cautioned against calls to clamp down on foreign participation in Ghana’s retail sector, arguing that enforcement remains difficult as long as locals continue to front for foreign operators.
Her comments come amid ongoing public debate over the enforcement of laws restricting foreign involvement in Ghana’s retail trade.
Speaking during the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, the Trade Minister dismissed claims that foreigners dominate Ghana’s retail market, insisting that such assertions are not supported by realities on the ground.
“I can say for sure, without any scientific basis, that foreigners are not responsible for 70% of our retail market. I don’t need rocket science; I only need to go to the market to see how many shops are being manned by foreigners,” she said.
While acknowledging that some foreigners may be engaged in retail trading, Madam Ofosu-Adjare noted that many of them operate through Ghanaian fronts, making regulatory action difficult.
“I would not deny the fact that there may be a few foreigners in the retail trade. But even those people in the retail space are being fronted by local people. If you enter the shop, you will see a Ghanaian sitting there,” she explained.
She added that ownership structures often conceal the true beneficiaries of the businesses, even in official records.
“What do you have to say that you are closing that shop because it doesn’t belong to a Ghanaian, whereas it is being manned by a Ghanaian? Even if you proceed to the Registrar-General’s Authority, the name of that shop is Ghanaian,” the minister stated.
Madam Ofosu-Adjare stressed that meaningful enforcement would require a change in behaviour among local business owners who enable foreign participation in restricted sectors.
“What I can say is that if Ghanaians don’t want foreigners in the space, we can fish them out and sack them. But so long as we front for them and register for them, there is nothing anybody can do,” she added.
