Let’s empower our local printers now!

The government has taken a bold step to offer the printing of all textbooks for first and second-cycle schools to our local printers.

Local printers have been knocking at the door of the government for some time now to revamp the printing industry, which used to provide jobs and livelihoods for thousands of Ghanaians.

The lack of capacity on the part of local printers, as a result of unbridled competition from more developed countries and the challenges of our economy, has always been cited as an excuse to deny them jobs.

With the denial of government jobs to them, the local printing industry took a nosedive.

But this week, the government took the bull by the horns to give the printers the chance to demonstrate their book-printing skills once again.

We hope that this giant step will help build the capacities of local printers to deliver good jobs and on time and be able to match international standards and compete favourably with printers abroad.

Although we believe that the eight selected out of the 32 local printers may have some competencies for which they were chosen, we are of the view that they need more support in order to give meaning to the decision.

It does not take a soothsayer to point out that the entire printing industry in the country is struggling to stay in business. The high cost of inputs such as machinery parts, ink, and paper  requires much capital, without which the business of printing will be done at a great loss.

We, therefore, urge the government to assist the eight printers by guaranteeing loans for them to acquire the necessary inputs before they commence the contract, else they may get stuck after they have started.

 It is our view that although the selected eight may have the technical competencies to execute the job at hand, they may be limited in the delivery of the work.

The printing of all textbooks for both basic and senior high schools not only for this year but in subsequent years, all things being equal, is quite a lot and will thus require a lot of support to help indigenous businesses to take the commanding height of the economy.

For the printers to survive, they must have access to credit, which they may not get on their own efforts and that is why we call on the government to play the lead role in getting them the needed credit.

We are very confident that the government will be able to support the printers to deliver, as it would not be the first time it would do so. Pharmaceutical companies were assisted with a US$5 million loan each to revamp their businesses and the result is obvious, as the companies that received the support are now doing very well.

The Daily Graphic believes that the support received by the printing firms will create the enabling environment for them to  take jobs from outside the country, especially from the sub-region as well.

We need to empower the printing firms to expand, create more employment opportunities and raise their competencies because when they succeed, the entire society, especially the educational sector, gains.

The Daily Graphic asks the government to consider scrapping taxes on imported raw materials and other imports for the book industry, so that local printers can compete with imported printed materials for schools and reading leisure that do not attract taxes.