GSA partners with Ghana Police Service to train standards inspectors

GHANA – The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has partnered with the Ghana Police Service to train standards inspectors to fight against the importation of inferior goods.

Speaking at the 10th edition of the Quality Awards by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Professor Alex Dodoo, the Director General of the GSA, said these inspectors will be equipped to check the influx of substandard goods that are in the markets.

He noted that this has become necessary with the coming into operation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

“As Standards Authority and also working with all the regulators, Foods and Drugs Authority, National Petroleum Authority, the first thing to do is to protect local industries by strict enforcement. If we do not protect our local industries, they compete unfairly and that’ll make them die. But our interests and focus are to remove barriers to your business to make your business thrive so that you can take over West Africa,” he said.

Prof. Dodoo informed that in alliance with the national police, GSA will train 200 standards inspectors to surveil the markets and be everywhere so that at the end of the day traders should compete on quality basis as substandard goods lower the bar and destroy the market.

In the previous month, the Ministry of Trade and Industry urged the GSA to forge a closer partnership with manufacturers and industry players to improve the standard of goods produced in the country.

Michael Okyere Baafi, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, who made the call, said Ghana could not measure its success or otherwise without an internationally recognized benchmark applicable to all countries, developed or developing.

The Deputy Minister then pledged the government’s support for the GSA in its effort to commercialize its services to promote standardization and the growth of local industries.

The authority has, over the years, played a key role in promoting rapid industrialization through the development of relevant standards and conformity assessment activities, such as inspection, testing and certification.

It has also begun engagement with informal sector players, to help them formalize their businesses through training and conformity assessment activities that will prepare them for the international market.