Building capacity of local printers

The government has time and again echoed its resolve to build the capacity of local industry towards ensuring that goods and services that can be sourced locally are obtained here.

This will not only create employment and ensure self-sufficiency but also reduce the over-reliance on imports and help build the country’s reserve of foreign currency which will ultimately stabilise the cedi and promote macroeconomic stability.

It is in the light of this that the Daily Graphic sees the call by local printers on the government to give practical meaning to the printing of textbooks and exercise books as just and apt.

Indeed, President John Dramani Mahama, in his State of the Nation Address earlier this year, expressed optimism that local printers had the capacity to print textbooks and exercise books locally.

The local printers, in making the call, recounted that last year the government promised allocating 20 per cent of the books to them but, regrettably, what they received was about three per cent.

One of the major reasons publishers gave for not giving out jobs to local printers was lack of capacity.

But the printers have insisted that they have the capacity to print even higher quality books than those that are printed outside, a fact they say the Ministry of Education is aware of.

One other reason publishers choose to publish outside is the comparatively cheaper cost, but local printers have attributed that situation to an uneven playing field.

According to them, they made a case to the government to waive the taxes paid on the importation of printing inputs but, unfortunately, the law that was passed by Parliament only waived tax on paper products.

The Daily Graphic believes in the campaign to promote made-in-Ghana goods, for which reason we back the call by printers to be given a major portion of the printing of textbooks for public schools.

However, we are also aware of the practice by a section of local printers who, even after they have made claims that local capacity exists, send jobs given to them by the Ministry of Education to be executed outside and brought back into the country.

We appeal to local printers involved in the double standard to put a stop to it, so that as an industry if there are gaps in capacity, they can take steps to fix them.

They must pool resources to execute government jobs flawlessly in order not to derail government agenda to empower local producers.
In calling for a level playing field, local printers are urging the government to have the law amended, so that the tax waiver will cover printing inputs as well.

That way, a competitive atmosphere will be created and the option will now lie with publishers whether to print locally or still import.

The Daily Graphic and Ghanaians who believe in the policy of local production will be watching to see whether we can walk the talk of printing locally and whether those offered the jobs will also not ‘Nicodemusly’ turn to Asia to expose advocates of empowering local firms to public ridicule.