Government school uniforms must be sewn where they would distributed

Sekondi,Oct. 21, GNA-Mr. Paul E. Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, said clothing to be distributed under the free school uniform project, must be sewn locally to boost the confidence and capacity of the country's Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs).

Mr. Aidoo said this when the national executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Sekondi on Monday.

The visit formed part of a project themed 'using the media to strengthen business advocacy".

Mr. Aidoo said notwithstanding the challenges of the Procurement Law, small contracts should be awarded to SMEs, since they constitute about 80 percent of the informal sector.

He charged the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) to seek representation of SMEs on the various committees of the MMDs to establish better working relationship with the sector. Mr. Aidoo said the SMEs have not received the needed support but when assigned tasks, their potentials could develop to turn them into giant industries.

The regional Minister said so far, the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) through its business advisory centres, has offices in all the districts in the region except Ellembelle, Bia, Sefwi Ankotombra and Shama.

Mr. Aidoo said through the initiatives of the NBSSI, 350 new businesses have been created which had also led to the 541 new jobs and the adoption and use of new technologies by 276 others. Mr. Kwesi Afriyie Badu, Chief Executive Officer, KAB Governance Consult, said the involvement of the SMEs in the fee fixing processes of the assembly was paramount to revenue generation and the creation of trust among the assemblies and the SMEs.

He said the SMEs needed information that would facilitate their work and make them effective partners in the development of the region and the nation as a whole.

"Such information if not available to the SMEs, discourages them and threatens their existence" he stressed. Mr. Afriyie-badu charged the district assemblies to award jobs and contracts to SMEs to enable them also create more employment opportunities for the citizenry.

"We must all work and give economic groups enough say in the development of policy and other development issues" he added. Mr. Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the GJA, said the thrust of the project was to minimise the focus of the media on politics and to equip journalists with the requisite skills to effectively report on SMEs and their activities. He said SMEs, were vital to the economic development and survival of the nation and all efforts must be made to groom them and give them an opportunity to express themselves openly. 21 Oct 09