The traders argue that the situation has made it very difficult for members to clear their goods which has led to huge volumes of electrical cables and others, stuck at the ports.

The traders, some of whom have been speaking to Citi Business News say they are currently paying import duties which have gone up from 10 to 20 percent.

A Patron of the Ghana Electrical Dealers Association, Dr. James Ansah, who described the increase as alarming, said government should review the charges.

“Duty taxes for electrical items was 10%. Government has now increased it to 20%. If you add the other taxes including VAT and Shippers plus the 20%, you are heading towards 50%. We are calling on government to review it because we are having a huge deficit” he said.

He further attributed the increase in taxes to the constant increase in the cost of housing, and advised government to ensure something is done about it.

“It is part of the reasons why houses are not affordable because the Electrical and things to build are very expensive so at the end of the day if the developers cannot sell it at an affordable rate, then we can forget the dream of having an affordable housing sector” he noted.

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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana.

The post Electrical dealers lament high import duties appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Association’s President, Joseph Obeng, said that presence of fake cables was an indictment on the GSA’s regulatory standards at the ports, since the Authority shirked its responsibility of checking the influx of these fake cables.

[contextly_sidebar id=”XwmZiT4pdTkpKjpENm89MBk9p4DhH2cq”]The Director-General of the Authority, Alex Dodoo, had revealed to the media that, only two local electrical cable brands passed its critical safety requirement test at its cable laboratory out of the 22 sampled.

The GSA had also stated that, a nationwide surveillance conducted revealed that over 70 percent of all imported electrical cable brands on the market were substandard and could cause fires.

But Mr. Obeng said indications from the GSA were ill-intentioned “because they [the GSA] have so many other imported cables that have come to their institutions for testing and they have all passed.”

He further held that the report “seemed to portray that all imported cables are not passing the test so it was not in good taste.”

GSA as gatekeepers

Whilst noting that there were some dealers that cut corners, Mr. Obeng said the “onus lies on the Ghana Standards Authority to make sure that we put a stop to this influx of inferior cables.”

He stressed that, “when you bring goods, they [the GSA] have to do the testing before they give the clearance for the goods to leave the port, and so it is an indictment on themselves because, in any case, how were those goods able to go to the market?”

GSA to name and shame

Deputy Chief Executive of the GSA, Dr. Poku Adusei, indicated to Citi News that the Authority will in due course publish names of electrical cable brands that failed its critical safety requirement test for conductor resistance.

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By: Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Electrical dealers slam GSA over ‘fake cable’ report appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.