Parliament passes bill to stop accident cars’ importation

Parliament has passed the Customs (Amendment) Bill 2020, which seeks to ban importation of accident cars into the country. The law will prohibit the importation of specific vehicles of over ten years of age. The country is also expected to lose over Ghc802 million for the first three years in tax waivers.

The law will provide incentives for automotive manufacturers and assemblers registered under the Ghana Automotive Manufacturering Development Programme. The move comes despite the Minority’s opposition to the bill.

Speaking during the approval of the joint report of Trade and Finance committee, deputy ranking member for the Trades Committee and Tamale Central MP Inusah Fuseini argued the bill when passed will deny many people of their livelihood.

His argument was supported by ranking member for Committee of Transport Governs Kwame Agbodza and Ho Central MP Benjamin Kpodo.

According to them, the ban has the potential to affect businesses of dealers.Chairman for the Finance committee, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Trades Minister Alan Kojo Kyerematen disagreed.

They argued that such a law will not only create jobs with the location of multinational automobile companies in the country but make brand new vehicles affordable for purchase. German car-maker, Volkswagen is one of the automobile companies set to open an assembling plant in Ghana in early 2020.