The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has cautioned against calls to restrict foreign participation in Ghana’s retail sector, stressing that enforcement remains challenging so long as local actors continue to front for foreign businesses. Her remarks come amid heightened public debate over the application of laws limiting foreign involvement in retail trade.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, the Trade Minister rejected claims that foreigners dominate Ghana’s retail market, arguing that such assertions do not reflect the reality. “I can confidently say, even without scientific data, that foreigners do not control 70% of our retail sector. It doesn’t take rocket science—just a visit to the market shows how few shops are actually run by foreigners,” she stated.
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.
Source: William Narh
