Spare parts business collapsing in Ghana

By Millicent Yaro
The newly appointed President of the Association of Youth Auto Spare Parts Dealers (AYAPD) at Abossey-Okai Spare Parts Market, Mr Siaw Ampadu, has disclosed that the spare parts business in the country is no longer lucrative.

He attributed this situation to the fast depreciation of Ghana's local currency, the cedi. Mr Siaw Ampadu made this known in an interview at his Abossey Okai shop in Kaneshie.

According to him, within mid September last year, the rate of a dollar against the cedi was GH¢1.20P, but now a dollar is GH¢1.50p, which he said, is making it difficult for them to buy spare parts of vehicles to sell in the country.

'If this trend continues many of the spare parts shops at Abossey-Okai will be forced to fold up as the owners will not be in a position to raise enough capital to buy auto parts,” Mr Ampadu told our reporter.

Whilst urging the government to stabilize the cedi against the dollar, the President of AYAPD also took the opportunity to remind government on the need to reduce charges and import duties at the Tema Harbour.

“In my candid opinion, I think if some of the charges at the ports are reduced, many of us in the spare parts industry will be able to keep body and soul,” expressed Mr Ampadu.

According to him, between GH¢7,000-GH¢8,000 is charged for a container of spare parts.

Complaints were, before the goods could get out of the port, they could sometimes pay GH¢12,000. This, he explained, is because “besides the import duty charges, they are also made to pay other fees.”

Mr Ampadu noted that these exorbitant charges are the reasons for the high pricing of auto parts, and if steps are not taken to reduce these charges, the consequences will be an upsurge in road accidents in the country.

Explaining his reasons, he said, if customers are unable to buy from auto shops, it means that they will buy …“damaged and repaired auto parts” from people he described as scrap dealers who mainly sell bad items.

The scrap dealers, in the opinion of Mr Ampadu buy damaged auto parts, repair and spray them after which they sell these items to unsuspecting customers.

To this end, he called on the police to drastically deal with scrap dealers who he described nothing short than bunch of rogues.

He also stressed the need for the police to offer stiffer punishments to people who sell fake auto parts to people to serve as deterrent to others who have the intention to engage in such acts.

He advised all car owners to buy from a recognized and registered auto shop and refrain from way side auto dealers.

On the state of the Abossey-Okai Spare Parts Market, Mr Ampadu, who is also the owner of ”Akonta Shop”, lamented over the fact that they have been paying a lot of taxes to government.

Although he entreated government to reduce its taxes on Spare Parts Dealers, he also called on the authorities to put up measures to remedy the deplorable state of roads at Abossey Okai Market.

“My appeal is that government will support us to improve the bad roads at Abossey Okai Spare Parts area,” Mr Siaw Ampadu appealed

He also bemoaned that since 1999, several petitions made by the Association to government in that direction have yielded no positive dividends.

For his part, Mr George Ben Nyarko, a Spare Parts Dealer, who is into the sale of Korean cars and other auto parts, expressed fears of his company winding up.

He said his latest trip to Korea cost him GH¢3,000.00 adding that when he exchanged currencies from cedis to dollars, he lost a large sum of money.

He disclosed, for instance, that Labo2002, a Korea manufactured car, which sold at GH¢4,500 last year September, is currently sold at GH¢ 5,360.00

He also added that Sephia97, another brand of Korean car which was GH¢5,000, is now sold for GH¢ 5,930.00

He explained that what has accounted for the increases in the prices of these cars are the high charges of duties at the Tema Harbour.

He, therefore, appealed to the ruling NDC government to take steps to address their legitimate concerns to prevent them from losing their jobs.