Dr Alex Dodoo, the  Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) speaking at a media conference to announce the products, said a lot of the products did not meet their standardisation test, hence the names to the public.

The media conference is to hand over a list of products that failed the Authority’s critical parameter tests to the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA).    He said as a State Agency, they had made it clear that their mandate was to protect the public interest and promote legal businesses in the country.

He said to inform the public properly; GSA has removed these products from the market and would continue to do so until all sub-standard products leave the market.  He said destroying fake products was a more laudable measure to tackle the influx of poor electrical cables on the Ghanaian market, as compared to the shutdown of illegal businesses.

The Director-General said his outfit was determinate to fight any fake businesses operating within the Ghanaian market space, encouraging citizens to offer information on such perpetrators.

Mr Kofi Kapito, the Executive Director of CPA, expressed excitement and said he had been reassured that a regulator was doing its mandate effectively.He said the decision was in the interest of the public to make inform choice of what they purchased from the market.

He called on the public to stop the attitude of encouraging illegal businesses to strive in the country, where they say the regulator was destroying their businesses.  Mr Kapito also pleaded with the public to report the bad guys, who were doing illegal business to the GSA.

Meanwhile, a statement issued in Accra by the GSA said, the Authority was alarmed at the presence of a high number of substandard electrical products on the Ghanaian market.  It said this was because substandard electrical products, like other sub-standard consumer goods, pose a danger to the health and safety of consumers and also threatened the environment.

 It said the Authority was deeply concerned about the presence of substandard electrical products on the market, “we wish to assure consumers that the Authority is taking whatever steps it can within the legal and regulatory framework to tackle specific quality-related issues identified with various products.”

The statement said the Authority, in accordance with section 3(2)(e) of the Standard Act, 1973 (NRCD) 1973 and regulation 8 and 9 of the GSB (Food, Drugs And Other Goods ) General Labelling Rules 1992 (LI 1541) conducted electrical products on the market surveillance on electrical cables, LED bulbs and other electrical fittings across the country.

It said the surveillance was aimed at ensuring that specific products imported into Ghana and retailed on the Ghanaian market meet the requirements of standards to safeguard public health and safety.  It said a significant number of the products sampled during the exercise failed all the critical parameter tests and did not meet the labelling requirements.

The statement, therefore, urged all consumers to visit the GSA website to access the lists of electrical products approved by the GSA as of September 30, 2018.