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Shop Owners on Strike in
Freetown |
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Written by
Abubakarr Bah |
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Tuesday, 05 January 2010
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Shop owners
in Freetown closed down their shops for what they referred to as the
introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Shop owners along Goderich, Sani Abacha and Wilberforce Streets, Regent
Road and PZ told CTN that the closure of shops in the city was a strike
action against government’s imposition of the GST in the country. The
traders accused the government of hurriedly imposing heavy taxes on them
without educating them about their significance. The strike action by
traders in the capital angered residents who had gone shopping to
replenish household stocks consumed over the holiday period. The
President of the Sierra Leone Importers Association (SLIA), Alhaji Alpha
Tanu Jalloh, told CTN that he was not aware about the shop closure
staged by traders in Freetown. He said the executive was discussing the
issue with the government. He urged traders to open their shops and be
patient until the matter is settled amicably. The SLIA president however
noted that traders in the country did not understand the Goods and
Services Tax. He urged government to focus on educating the business
community about the new tax before implementing it. Also on Monday,
shops owners in Bo closed down their shops to the public. The Chairman
of the Lebanese Business Committee, Kemel Baloun told journalists that
most Lebanese owned shops, closed when they heard that there was a
traders’ meeting in Freetown on GST. He noted that they were willing to
pay the GST and abide by the laws of the country. The National Revenue
Authority, NRA Assistant Commissioner of GST, Alfred Akibo-Betts said
there was no need for business people to close their shops.
Mr. Akibo-Betts
told CTN that the NRA and the business people had mutually agreed since
last September to defer the commencement of the new tax regime to
January this year. |
