The Upper East Regional Office of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has appealed to the government to resource the office and equip it with a means of transport to facilitate its mandate of ensuring standardization.
Mr Thomas Aquinas Asolmia, the Regional Officer of the GSA, who made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, indicated that the entire Region had only one vehicle, which was woefully inadequate to assist in effective delivery of the GSA mandate.
“We have only one pick up to run the affairs of the whole Region, which is insufficient, considering the workload of the GSA. This means that many people cannot go to the field at the same time which affects our work drastically.”
The GSA promulgates standards, promotes standardization and undertakes conformity assessment activities in the country to ensure that products or goods and services produced in Ghana and imported, whether for local consumption or for export are safe, reliable and are of good quality to meet the International Standards Organization (ISO) requirement.
Mr Asolmia noted that the Upper East Region shared borders with Burkina Faso and Togo and had major check points in the interior, where sub-standard goods or products were imported into the country.
The lack of a means of transport could therefore compromise the GSA operations in the Region and citizens could consume sub-standard products, he added.
Whilst appealing for more offices to be opened in places like Namoo in the Bongo District, and Bawku to augment the efforts of the Regional and Paga offices, Mr Asolmia disclosed the office space in the Regional capital, Bolgatanga, was relatively small to enhance smooth operation.
“We have two offices in which I operate in one and the other is occupied by my staff of about eight. What kind of effective work would eight people do in one small office?” he queried.
The GSA Officer said several appeals had been made to the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council for more offices for the staff posted to the Region, as a result of the implementation of the government’s flagship programme, One-District One-Factory, but to no avail.
Mr Asolmia noted that his outfit was also faced with accommodation challenges as many of the staffs were not from the Upper East Region.
“Four of my staff members come from Accra and there is no accommodation for them. The other four who come from this Region commute from far places to work and it affects performances.”
Whilst advising the business community to certify their businesses with the GSA to ensure smooth production and importation of standardized products, the Regional Officer asked consumers to always buy products with the required labelling to avoid using high risk goods.
He urged all the eight regulating agencies including the Food and Drugs Authority, National Petroleum Authority, Energy Commission, Ghana Tourist Board, Environmental Protection Agency, Forestry Commission, National Media Commission and National Communication Authority to reinforce their laws and regulations and be proactive to clamp down on perpetrators of sub-standard products.
