We will picket the Ministry of Trade and
Industry next week to demand for the anti-piracy textile taskforce to be
reactivated says Members of the Textile, Garment and Leather Employees Union
(TEGLU).The group wants the taskforce to deal with piracy of fabrics in the
local market and will picket the premises to pressure government to heed their
call.
The move, according to the General
Secretary of the union, Abraham Koomson, will send a strong indication to
political leaders that the time has come to crack the whip on pirates to
prevent the local textile industry from collapsing.The Ministry of Trade and
Industry set up the anti-piracy taskforce in 2010 to halt the activities of
pirates. The taskforce which included personnel drawn from the security
agencies, the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Ghana Union of Traders
Association tackled the problems associated with piracy of the local textile
industry.
According to the group, things
were getting better when the taskforce was operational.However, they said since
the taskforce stopped its operations, the pirates had returned. Mr Koomson,
speaking to Class News, maintained government must act immediately.We even went to parliament in
2014 with this grievance and they said, ‘OK, once you have already reported to
the Ministry of Trade and Industry, let’s see what happens and then if there is
any fallout we will take it up. So our intention is to even picket parliament
and the Ministry of Trade and Industry because they continue to tell us
stories. We have written several times, we’ve been going there. I will appeal
to the President to also make sure that the work attitude of people in some of
these ministries [are] checked otherwise the picketing and demonstrations will
continue without ceasing. So ours is going to come off and I’m working on the
letters…” he
stated.
Source: Business Today, India Wednesday, 10 May 2017