Ghana Publishers Association calls for policy to boost industry
The President of the Ghana Publishers Association (GPA), Asare Konadu Yamoah, has called for a comprehensive national publishing policy to drive the growth and development of the industry.
Mr Yamoah stressed the need to champion policies that prioritised Ghanaian content in published materials, ensuring that children learned from stories rooted in Ghanaian values and realities, particularly in agriculture and education.
He was speaking at the GPA’s 48th Annual General Meeting in Accra yesterday, Wednesday, November 5, 2025, on the theme: “Policy a catalyst: Transforming Ghana’s publishing ecosystem for national development”.
The event was attended by representatives of stakeholders in the education sector and the publishing industry, including the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Ghana Shippers Authority, and Exim Bank, among others.
The meeting, chaired by Professor Yaw Nyadu Offei, an audiologist at the University of Education Winneba, also had a Supreme Court Judge, Sir Justice D. Dominic Adjei, as the Guest of Honour.
Copyright
Mr Yamoah also called for a review of the Copyright Act to safeguard intellectual property rights and guarantee fair regulation and creative freedom.
“We also need to safeguard and elevate intellectual property by reviewing the Copyright Act 690 of 2005 to ensure robust frameworks that guarantee the rights of creators, fair regulation, and creative freedom, empowering authors, publishers, and cultural institutions to drive and contribute to Africa's literary legacy,” he said.
He called for enhanced public-private partnerships in terms of development, youth programming and cultural preservation.
“Government must drive policies that encourage direct investment in publishing and align curriculum development with inclusive innovation, enriching education, empowering young minds, and safeguarding Ghana's cultural heritage,” he stated
He affirmed that transforming the publishing industry must see a synergy between the government, publishers, educators, civil society, and other private sector institutions whose works aligned with publishing activity.
Mr Yamoah added that transforming the publishing industry required collaboration between the government, publishers, educators, civil society and the private sector.
He called for fast-tracked policies that would ensure every child had access to culturally relevant books that promoted empathy, respect, and non-violent communication.
The President of the GPA indicated that Ghana's publishing industry must align with the global trends and continental aspirations.
Sir Justice Adjei emphasised the need for policies to support the growth of Ghana's publishing industry.
He indicated that there was a need to protect local industries from foreign competition and promote the local industry.
“Several policies are required to be introduced or implemented to improve upon the publishing industry in Ghana and the prominent ones among them include; local printing policy to protect the local industries from competing with others in the printing of textbooks, government to promote the National Book Policy, a Guaranteed Purchase Scheme to commit government and its agencies to purchase books or publications from local authors or publishers, strict adherence to the 2005 Textbook Policy in Ghana, capacity building for publishers and their co-workers, stakeholders engagement, and tax incentives,” he said.
He also called for the strict implementation of local printing policies to ensure that quality local textbooks were printed by local industries, thereby avoiding competition from foreign publishers, who had several benefits, including tax incentives that allowed them to produce at cheaper prices.
The Supreme Court Judge added that in a developing country such as Ghana, where the cost of printing was high due to several factors, local printing policies to protect local industries must be strictly observed; otherwise, the industries were likely to operate under capacity, which would result in charging high prices, a situation which would deter users from patronising them.
