Paraphernalia traders counting losses after Black Stars early exit

● Mrs. Gifty Ahiador Agblo was one of the sellers of

national colurs paraphernalia during the world cup

Business people always look out for opportunities to invest their monies to gain and the qualification of the Black Stars to the world cup tourna­ment hosted by Qatar was not an exception.

Many citizens and fans the world over also like to get some­thing in national colours to wear or carry along to cheer them.

These could be shirts, scarfs, mufflers, flags, caps, hats among others in red, gold, green and black representing the Ghana Flag.

Unfortunately, some traders in Tema who invested in the sale of paraphernalia in national colours to cash in on the World Cup tour­nament seem to have “gambled” at a loss.

They are currently contem­plating what to do with the rest of the items after Ghana’s early exit from the world game.

For such traders, the Black Stars failure to qualify had hit them harder than expected be­cause they were hopeful the team would progress to the next stage to enable them to make some profit.

One of such is Kojo Bruce who sold things at the various Traffic Lights intersections to passengers and drivers .

He said after Ghana lost to Portugal in the first match, the sale went down significantly, but the Black Stars trashing Korea 3-2 there was rise in sales until our unfortunate loss to Uruguay.

“ My wife advised me to rather invest in Christmas decorations and items because there was no guarantee that Black Stars would qualify even at the group stages but I didn’t listen but now look”.

Mr. Bruce said he could only hope that people would still buy them to use as souvenirs even if it was at a reduced price.

A 64-year-old Mrs. Gifty Ahiador Agblo said before the tournament she sold second hand furniture but had bought flags and caps to be sold at the Adjei Kojo Underbridge Market during the period.

She admitted that after the first match with Portugal which Ghana lost, patronage naturally slowed down.

However, she said after the second match it became encour­aging so she was hopeful that the Black Stars would do better which unfortunately did not happen.

She sold a flag at Ghc10 which drivers hung on their vehicles and the caps between Ghc20 and Ghc25 each.

Mrs. Agblo said there was the need for everyone to have something which was Ghanaian whether the country was play­ing in a tournament or not and people should take advantage of the period.

She said regardless of the situ­ation, as a Ghanaian, she would forever be a strong supporter of the Black Stars.

 From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Tema.

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