Textile industry disputes Ghana@50 claim

Workers of local textile companies are accusing the Ghana@50 Secretariat of throwing dust into the eyes of the public.
Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Jubilee Planning Committee told a press conference on Tuesday that they had to import part of the anniversary cloth from China because the local companies did not have the capacity to meet the required quantity.
However workers of the local textile industry say that excuse is flimsy.
According to them their companies including Printex, ATL and VLISCO Ghana, producers of GTP were presented with the anniversary design about three weeks ago, a period too short to produce the quantity that the Secretariat is demanding.
A check by an Accra-based radio station - JOY FM - at some of the textile companies corroborated the story that the designs came rather too late.
Abraham Koomson, the General Secretary of the Textiles, Garment and Leather Workers’ Union said t is a blatant lie to explain away the obvious flaw by citing capacity.
He said if the Secretariat really wanted the local companies to print the anniversary cloths, they would have arranged in good time and the Chinese procurement constitutes an endorsement of cheap imports and an indictment on the government.
“All along we’ve been fighting the dumping of Chinese cloths in our market and we know people are doing it illegally through smuggling and other means, and if government is seen to be involved in the importation then it implies that dumping is being officially endorsed and that is where our worry is,” said Abraham Koomson.

Workers of local textile companies are accusing the Ghana@50 Secretariat of throwing dust into the eyes of the public.
Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Jubilee Planning Committee told a press conference on Tuesday that they had to import part of the anniversary cloth from China because the local companies did not have the capacity to meet the required quantity.
However workers of the local textile industry say that excuse is flimsy.
According to them their companies including Printex, ATL and VLISCO Ghana, producers of GTP were presented with the anniversary design about three weeks ago, a period too short to produce the quantity that the Secretariat is demanding.
A check by an Accra-based radio station - JOY FM - at some of the textile companies corroborated the story that the designs came rather too late.
Abraham Koomson, the General Secretary of the Textiles, Garment and Leather Workers’ Union said t is a blatant lie to explain away the obvious flaw by citing capacity.
He said if the Secretariat really wanted the local companies to print the anniversary cloths, they would have arranged in good time and the Chinese procurement constitutes an endorsement of cheap imports and an indictment on the government.
“All along we’ve been fighting the dumping of Chinese cloths in our market and we know people are doing it illegally through smuggling and other means, and if government is seen to be involved in the importation then it implies that dumping is being officially endorsed and that is where our worry is,” said Abraham Koomson.