GSA should open an office at Wa – Minister

Dr. Musheibu Mohammed Alfa, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister has appealed to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to open an office in the region to enhance its operations.

Currently, the Upper West Region shares office with the Upper East Region in Bolgatanga and this, the Deputy Minister said was making the presence of the GSA in the region less effective.

Dr. Mohammed Alfa made the appeal during the GSA public awareness programme on the implementation of the Ghana Conformity Assessment Programme (GCAP) in Wa on Friday.

The Deputy Regional Minister stated that the GCAP was one of the most important programmes in the country because it would prevent the influx of inferior goods into the country.

He said through the programme, goods coming in and going out of the country would be safe for use and urged stakeholders responsible for its implementation to do well to implement it to the letter.

Mr. Clifford E. Frimpong, Head, Food and Agric Department/Chief Standards Officer said the programme was launched by the GSA to minimize the incidence of goods being rejected at the country of destination.

He said the programme would ensure that only goods that met the requirements of Ghana Standards would be allowed for exports.

Mr. Frimpong noted that this would be achieved through a number of interventions, including inspection, testing and issuance of a certificate of conformity to accompany all consignments of imports from the country of origin.

He said it will improve and complement the existing destination inspection programmes.

Mr. Frimpong said the benefits include protection of consumers' health, safety and the environment and increased revenue as actual values of goods would be declared.

“This however does not add to the cost of doing business as it is the exporter/manufacturer that pays for the cost of the interventions such as testing and inspection among others”, he said.