The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, has charged the newly constituted Governing Board of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to deploy measures that will commercialise the authority’s operations and improve its revenue generation efforts.

He said the GSA was a strategic institution that provided critical services for the growth of industry, hence the need to maximise efforts at generating funds from the services it offered.

“The GSA, which is Ghana’s national standards body, metrology institute, certification body for products and management systems and is also involved in trade facilitation at the ports of entry by carrying out inspection of goods being imported or exported, plays a very critical role in implementing an aggressive industrial transformation programme, anchored on a 10-point plan which seeks to make Ghana the new manufacturing hub for Africa,” Mr Kyerematen said.

The minister gave the charge when he inaugurated the new governing board in Accra last Thursday.

The six-member board, with a four-year mandate, is chaired by Prof. Felix Charles Mills Robertson. Members are the Director General of the GSA, Prof. Alexander Nii Oto Dodoo; Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, Mr Iddrisu Abdulai, Mr Mark A. Taylor and Dr Alex Ampofo Donkor.

Build on legacy
Mr Kyerematen said the board must build on the legacy of the previous board, which chalked up significant achievements.

He said under the previous board and the management team of the GSA, led by Prof Dodoo, the authority achieved a significant milestone by way of the publication of Ghana’s first building code.

He said the building code, which was launched in 2018, specified requirements for buildings, schools, roads, among others, and would give value for money in building.

He said due to the important services offered by the GSA, the ministry had supported it to strengthen its operations by acquiring the needed equipment for laboratories, the building of Ghana and West Africa’s first AC testing laboratory and the procurement of equipment to check the accuracy of fuel sold at retail outlets.

“I also wish to recall the significant role the authority played in the development of national automobile standards under the Ghana Automobile Development Programme which is being implemented by the Ministry of Trade and Industry,” he said.

The minister noted that the GSA had developed over 30 standards for vehicles, which had permitted homologation or certification of vehicles, making it possible for Ghana to assemble and later manufacture vehicles locally.

“It is good that most of the members of the old board are still on the new board and they will help one another to succeed,” he said.

Total support

Mr Kyerematen said the ministry would help the GSA to continue to play its significant role in the implementation of the government’s flagship programmes such as the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative, the Strategic Anchor Industries initiative, the Business Regulatory Reforms (BRR) programme, as well as the market integration frameworks through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the EU-Ghana Economic Partnership Agreement and the Ghana-UK Trade Partnership Agreement.

He said for the board to be able to improve the performance of the GSA, there was the need to adhere to sound corporate governance, as it was charged to work with senior management to develop policies and procedures for the prudent use of the GSA’s resources.

Meanwhile, he said, the 2021 GSA Bill would be laid before Parliament this year for consideration and approval.

“I expect that the various provisions will seek to improve the operations of the authority and put you in a better position to deliver your mandate,” he said.