MSES express concern about electricity rationing

Cape Coast, Oct.29, GNA-The operators of Medium and small scale enterprises in the Cape Coast municipality on Friday pointed out that the current rationing of electricity in the country coupled huge electricity bills and high taxes were greatly hampering their business activities.

They also said the lack of managerial training, access to loans, imitated spare parts was another serious challenge facing them Mr Felix Asante Bordom, regional chairman of small scale business association, said this on behalf of the members, when executive members of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) and Kab Governance Consult toured some enterprises in Cape Coast to promote the activities of MSEs and also to assist them find solutions to their problems. He said the importation of low quality spare parts, including car batteries, car bulbs, engines and tyres were affecting their businesses since it had made their customers to lose confidence in their work. He said many of the spare parts imported were of poor quality and suggested that the government should ban them, adding that home second hands parts were far better and preferred by many customers. Mr Bordom, who is an auto mechanic said he had trained about 25 people in his 15 years of operation and asked that the various district assemblies to include garages and fitting shops in the youth employment programme.

He also asked that th e Ghana Association of Garages be represented on the Road Safety Commission Board, since they work on vehicles to be put on the road.

Mr. Emmanuel Obiri-Mensah regional chairman of tailors association appealed to the government to import more industrial sewing machines to enable them go into mass production of items such bed sheets and shirts since there was ready market for them.

Mrs Agnes Steel Dadzie chairperson of drinking bar operators, appealed to breweries to impress upon their key distributors to give them direct supply rather than passing it through other retailers, this she said would keep them in business.

She also expressed concern about people who were operating drinking bars but had not registered with the association stressing that it was very difficult to collect taxes from such people and urged them to join the association.

Mr. Peter Brebi, Manager of 93Bro Peter Photo Studio=94 was unhappy about the high taxes the internal revenue service and district assembly collected from photo-studio owners and registered photographers. He said the time had come for the two organizations to come out with a policy that would ensure unregistered photographers to pay taxes and suggested that revenue collectors be sent to the various photo laboratories to collect taxes from such photographers. Mr. Bright Blewu, General Secretary of GJA, underscored the important role of MSEs in the socio-economic development of the nation and stressed that if their activities were harnessed it would help reduce poverty and create more jobs.

He advised MSEs to do their work diligently to justify the support that was being given to them.