Waive taxes on importation of paper and other printing materials

Kumasi, April 20, GNA - The government has been urged to ensure a ta= x waiver on imported paper and chemicals used for the printing of books and other publications.

Mr Kwaku Oppong Amponsah, General Manager of Adwinsah Publications Limited, said this was necessary to create a level playing field and keep those in the local publishing industry in business.

Zero taxes on imported books made it more attractive to many authors t= o print their works outside and this is killing the local industry, he said. Mr Amponsah was presenting a paper at the seventh Heidelberg/ Departme= nt of Publishing Studies (DPS) Awards Day and Entrepreneurship Graduation at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He identified inconsistency in government's policy and constant changes in school syllabi as major challenges that were hurting their budget and finan= ces. Professor William Otto Ellis, Vice Chancellor of KNUST, said it was important the nation focused on the development of its human capital. He said it should not be lost on anyone that without this it would be difficult for the country to effectively manage and harness its huge mineral resources to improve the lives of the people. Mr Ralph Nyadu-Addo, Course Coordinator, said the programme, which started seven years ago, aimed at equipping students with skills that would make them to become self employed.

He suggested that entrepreneurship should be taught in all tertiary institutions to help bring down the growing unemployment among the youth. A total of 167 final year students from the DPS benefitted from the year-long entrepreneurship training.

They were taught project management and proposal writing, total qualit= y management, financial management and analysis for business starters and business plan writing among others. Mr Prince Boakye-Yiadom was adjudged the overall best student and received a certificate and an undisclosed cash amount. 20 April 11