Editorial by The Chronicle: Ayekoo to GSA – but the Chinese coy must be punished!

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) reported yesterday that the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA), together with the Police, had swooped on some Chinese Nationals and Nigerians manufacturing electrical cables and copper rods without certification. They suspects were strangely operating under the protection of some military personnel.

The seven Chinese and Nigerian, according to the news agency, were picked up at the manufacturing site at Bueko, in Tsopoli, a town in the Greater Accra Region and handed over to the Police, after GSA had intelligence of their illegal operation.

The story further explained that upon reaching the company (Fenice Metals Technology Company Limited), it was discovered that electrical cables of different sizes had been produced, labelled as Jupiter Cable Electrique and stored in their warehouse and containers in large quantities.

The team also discovered that all the products had logos of the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) and had the inscription ‘Made in Turkey, China and Nigeria’, suggesting that they had been approved for the Ghanaian market.

The GNA also quoted Mr George Anti, Head of Enforcement, GSA, as saying that “we are stopping their operations because we cannot let any more of these products leave this premises. We can’t allow these to be happening in our country, particularly when we are moving into the African Free Trade Continental Area (AfCFTA).”

The Chronicle is happy that the GSA did not sit idle, but acted quickly after receiving intelligence about the illegal activities of the Chinese company. One of the major problems confronting this country is constant outbreak of fires in homes and market places. In most of these cases, the cause of the fire is attributed to substandard electrical cables used in wiring the buildings.

Therefore, for this Chinese company to hide at Tsopoli, a fast developing town in the Greater Accra region to manufacture electrical cables without certification from the GSA is a serious matter that must not be swept under the carpet. What is even more troubling is the alleged protection being provided for the company by the military to carry on with its illegal activities.

The story did not state if the military personnel found at the company were officially assigned by the military high command at Burma Camp. If the military personnel were performing official duties, did their Commanders find out if the company is operating legally before accepting to provide protection for them?

Is it not the police that are in charge of the internal security of this country? If the answer is yes, why should the military accept to provide security for a company that is doing a legitimate business, when it is the police that are supposed to do so?

Yes, Ghana is a developing country, but it does also mean our brains are also just developing. What the Chinese company has done with the support of the military can never happen in China, but we are allowing them to perpetrate serious crimes in Ghana and go scot free. They have put the lives of all Ghanaians in danger by manufacturing these illegal electrical cables and labelling them as having been manufactured in Turkey.

Whilst advising the GSA to recall all the illegal cables that had already been sent to the market with immediate effect, we also urge them to ensure that the police pursue the case to its logical conclusion.

If law breakers are prosecuted and jailed for crimes that threaten the security of this country, others will stay away from the same crime.

As we speak, almost all the water bodies we have in this country have been destroyed through illegal mining activities led by the same Chinese nationals. They are now shifting their attention to the manufacturing sector to produce sub-standard products for our markets. To quote Kennedy Akumpreko Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, “are we dumb” to allow this nonsense to be going on in our country?