Election 2020: We’ve made zero profit due to coronavirus - Printing press owners

Election years comes with huge expectations as political parties and candidates massively invest in campaigns targeted at electorates.

It is a “do or die” affair as these presidential and parliamentary candidate hopefuls have to put in efforts to make their works known to the citizenry.

The season happens to be a good year for the printing press business who are responsible for all the politically branded posters, stickers, flyers, T-shirts and all other paraphernalia.

But, in an interview with GhanaWeb, some business owners whose shops are located at New Town, the hub of printing in Accra attested that COVID-19 had taken a toll on their businesses.

The team spoke to businessman, Kingsley Ofosu, who was working on an order to print some 100 pieces of stickers for one of the leading political parties in the country.

According to him, the number of quantities they receive for orders reduces each passing day. He was, however, hopeful that the situation might improve towards December where the nation will be going to the polls to elect the next president as well as Members of Parliament.

“COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on our business. We are not getting our usual orders. We made massive sales last four years, due to the rallies. There was no virus (and) large groups could meet without restrictions. We cannot print the T-shirts in large quantities. We used to get between 2,000 and 3, 000 orders but now things are slow.”

Another, Mr. Osei, indicated that most of the materials used in printing are almost out of stock on the market as a result of the border closure.

He added that some persons have also increased the prices of the materials.

Speaking to GhanaWeb, he said “Most of the materials we use for printing are currently in shortage due to the virus. Before the lockdown, we received orders to print over 2,000 T-shirts for Ursula Owusu. Sometimes we received over 10,000 orders. It all depends on the political candidate. We work for all parties, regardless of the quantity.”