A former trade Minister under the NDC, Dr. John Abu, has called on politicians to stop sabotaging the sitting government. According to him, when government introduces policies that would help the socio-economic situation of the nation, politicians criticize the policies without considering the benefit the citizens and the nations would gain.
Dr. Abu, who was contributing to a days seminar organised by the Energy Commission, urged politicians not to use criticism as an avenue to score political points with the electorate against their opponents.
He advised that debates should not be conducted as if the opposition is there for the downtrodden and the sitting government is for the rich citizens but that the motivation for participation in every debate should always be the welfare of the citizenry at large.
Apparently, his comments had been prompted by remarks a trade representative that trade standards should ideally be backed by law but when such bills are sent to parliament people play politics with them.
Speaking on the theme of the seminar, '' Standards and Labelling Programmes,'' Dr. Abu, who is the NDC MP for Amenfi Central, urged political parties to help check inferior goods and inefficient electrical appliances that are making the country lose a lot of resources that would be saved for other purposes.
Dr. Ofosu - Ahenkorah, Executive Director of Energy Foundation, said the introduction of the standards and labeling programme would prevent the dumping of electrical appliances that have been rejected other countries and also prevent manufacturers from importing less efficient electrical gadgets into the country.
He said the programme would provide consumers with information needed to purchase efficient appliances, particularly household ones such as air conditioners, refrigerators and lighting systems.
''Under the programme, only air conditioners and refrigerators that meet the minimum energy efficiency standards may be imported into the country; any such appliance will also be furnished with clearly marked informational labels on their energy consumption'', Dr. Ofosu – Ahenkorah stressed.
The president of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Paa Kofi Ansong, pleaded that importers be educated because most of them '' are ignorant when it comes to standards of electrical gadgets.''
He advised that the investors should equally be taken into consideration as most of them come in the intention of investing but end up importing low standards goods into the country.
The MP for La Dadekotopon, Mr. Godfred Ako – Nai, called on the Standards Board to conduct the monitoring of goods frequently to help reduce the number of inefficient electrical appliances on the market.
He supported the call by the GUTA boss for the education of traders, importers and consumers to enable them identify electrical gadget, which are not energy efficient.
