Bring perpetrators of illegal factories to book - Allotey Jacobs

The Former Central Regional Chairman of the NDC, Bernard Allotey Jacobs has called on the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to ensure that culprits of illegal polybag factory is made to face the law.

“The GSA, the Ministry of Trade and industry and all agencies that matter should send the perpetrators to court and let the law deal with them without any fear or favour,” he said on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie on Wednesday.

Background

It has come to the book of the GSA and the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police Service (CID) that there is an illegal Chinese Rubber manufacturing company which was producing black polythene bags in large quantities at Oyarifa.

The company, Wan Chin is believed to have been operating since 2014 with about 25 men and women working under harsh conditions that could be detrimental to their health.

It was also noticed by the Business Development Manager of the GSA, George Anti, who went with a team from the authority and the CID to close down the company that, the factory was wired with industrial external cables which could easily spark fire and burn the whole building.

Based on the background, Allotey Jacobs recommended that all the workers at the factory are sent to hospital on the account of the owners for screening, to detect if there is any hazardous chemicals in their system.

He insisted that if there is any diagnosis after the screening, the owners of the factory should be made to provide money for the treatment of the workers.

Allotey Jacobs also suggested that the accounts of the factory is seized while the workers are compensated for working under such unhealthy conditions.

“All the workers must be sent to hospital to test if they have been infested with hazardous chemicals and if there is any, their monies should be used to cater for their bills while they are also compensated,” he said.

Meanwhile, the New Juaben-North Constituency Chairman of the NPP, Kwadwo Agyeman Boateng who blames the authorities for not being pro-active called on the authorities to ensure that the right checks are done at the ports before the materials are allowed into the country.

“Despite the fact that we are blaming these Chinese for infusing our system with such things, we have to blame ourselves for allowing them into the country. The GSA should have inquired what the machines were going to be used for before allowing them to go through the system,” he said.

The host of Ghana Nie, Bismark Brown, however, called on the Department of Factories Inspectorate, the Electricity Company of Ghana, the Environmental Protection agency to visit the factory and inspect whether their operations were in accordance to their requirements.