I have not travelled the world but I know every country loves its citizens and gives them priority when it comes to the distribution of public goods and services. The only country I know that doesn’t follow this rule is Ghana. We have this unproductive façade of a cliché called Ghanaian hospitality, something we use to disadvantage citizens. I do not say foreigners should be ignored but when you chose to love your guest more than yourself, then it is an anomaly.
The hatred for the Ghanaian permeates almost every aspect of our society but when it is perpetrated by public office holders who have been appointed and placed as stewards over our resources, and then it becomes more painful.
Take a good look at our tax administration, almost every foreigner who comes here to do business of any kind is given tax exemption, because the person is bringing foreign exchange. According to Dr. Charles Ackah, a Senior Research Fellow of Institute of Social, Statistical and Economic Research (ISSER) University of Ghana, annual tax exemption for companies doing Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Ghana amounts to 4billion Cedis. This includes mining companies and free zone companies.
Over the years, these companies repatriated their profits to their countries of origin and that often leaves our cedi vulnerable. Our laws say they must retain some of their earnings here but they don’t and repatriate everything with impunity.
I recently went to Osu in Accra to buy some office equipment for my office and stepped into a huge office Mart belonging to Lebanese, packed with customers. After taking their proforma invoice, they attached a tax exemption form to it so that we will not take withholding tax from the amount when issuing them a cheque. I moved 150 meters down into another shop owned by a Ghanaian, smaller than the Lebanese one and realized their prices were a little higher for some of the equipment as compared to the earlier shop but at the same time, majority of the items were the same or even cheaper. When I inquired whether they had tax exemption, they responded in the negative with the explanation that they applied but were turned down.
*The views of the above article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Africa Speaks 4 Africa or its editorial team.