Spare Parts Dealers In Hell Under Akufo-Addo

Spare parts dealers in Accra have expressed disappointment in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

The Members of the National Concerned Spare Parts Dealers Association accused him of delivering hardship to them after sponsoring him and the NPP with GH¢200,000 to win the December 2016 elections after he gave them gargantuan promises.

The Spare Parts Dealers Association said they are disappointed over the "government's insensitive increase in taxes, high import charges and the inability to stabilise the dollar as promised."

Public Relations Officer of the group, Takyi Addo speaking on Accra-based Class FM said they expected Nana Addo and the government to deliver on their promises but have failed.

He said import duties have soared significantly after the promise made by the Finance Minister that import duties on spare parts have been abolished.

According to him, "The government intends to sit down with us [but] how many months now? 18 months, so, our business should collapse before the government will come in? That is the problem; the government wants our business to collapse before stepping in. No! This is unfair.

"That is the reason why we voted for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. We gave him 2 billion old [Ghana cedis]; GH¢200,000 new Ghana cedis, you can check it, [it was reported on] 13th May 2016, Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers [gave] GH¢200,000 to Nana Addo's campaign."

He added that Nana Addo and the NPP prior to the elections promised to revive their business collapsing under former President John Mahama but rather turned to deceived them.

"The motive was because we thought Mahama [then-President of Ghana] was cheating us and not helping us, so, we wanted to boot Mahama out so Nana Addo will come in. Vice President Dr Bawumia [then-running mate to Mr Akufo-Addo] gave us a lot of promises, so, we were thinking that when you compare the two [Mahama and Akufo-Addo], they [NPP] can help, because our businesses were collapsing at that time but not knowing they are rather coming to deceive us," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Spare parts dealers are set to stage a demonstration against the government over rising tax on the importation of spare parts into the country.

The march is slated for Friday, September 21, 2018 in Accra.