AGI meets three Regulatory Bodies

The Association of Ghana Industries, (AGI) has met with some regulatory bodies to deliberate on the provision of services to stakeholders.

The bodies include the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA). MrJames Asare-Adjei, President of the AGI, said the meeting is to discuss and agree on measures to enhance cooperation between the regulatory bodies and stakeholders.

He said the regulatory bodies hold it a duty to explain issues to their stakeholders on how they operate and render services to stakeholders. Mr Mustapha Tawiah Kumah, Director of the certification division of the Ghana Standard Authority said the authority is at the verge of improving on its services to the public.

Also, the Authority is adopting new measures to raise the standard of all products. He said it was illegal to use the olonka in the market to measure food items, and that, measures are underway with the help of the Ministry of Agriculture to eliminate the practice.

Mr John Odame Darkwa, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Food & Drugs Authority (FDA), said the FDA is the mandatory body to ensure that products are thoroughly inspected before entering the market.

He said FDA inspection teams are immediately dispatched on issues of complaints to check on all unsafe items on the market. He said the market surveillance system at the FDA remained active in order to curb unsafe food products in the market and to allow public safety.

Mr Timothy Oman, the Director of Planning at the AMA, said, the AMA, which is responsible for the development of districts in Accra is undertaking the rehabilitation of all projects in the districts.

He said in terms of revenue mobilization, all stakeholders are included to deliberate on the issue before bills are charged. In terms of collection of bills, Mr Oman stressed that a point of sale strategy has been put in place to check any discrepancies in the system.

On education, Mr Oman stressed the elimination of the shift system by AMA since2009, with the introduction of the millennium city schools throughout the district. He said a three-storey building with 100 classrooms is under construction, out of which 18 classroom blocks are already in use.

He said the street naming and property programme would kick start soon and called on the AGI members to invest in some of the projects to accelerate the pace of development of the city.

MrAsare-Adjei urged the GSA to place emphasis on the review of standards every five years to help improve the quality of products.