Standing Committee on buy Made-In-Ghana goods inaugurated
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 March 2000
Mr William Parker, Chief Executive of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), on Tuesday said the refinery has released a lot of fuel on the market to prevent an acute shortage following panic buying on suspicion of increases in prices.
In an interview with the GNA, Mr Parker said TOR has since Monday increased the daily national supply of 1,600 tonnes to 1,800 tonnes and appealed to motorists to stop the panic buying to ameliorate the situation.
"Clearly, with the increase of the price of crude oil from 10 dollars per barrel to 30 dollars, people suspect that the price of fuel would go up; that is why they are spreading rumours.
"People are, therefore, buying as much as three or four times their usual capacity to store for use in case there is real shortage."
Mr Parker noted that some dealers in second-hand cars have filled the tanks of the cars on sale for re-sale when there is a shortage, saying the artificial shortage has neither affected Kumasi nor Takoradi.
He, however, acknowledged that the purchasing capacity of the refinery has reduced by one-sixth as a result of the depreciation of the cedi from 2,200 cedis per dollar last year to 4,000 cedis.
"Times are very hard for our economy so Ghanaians must bear with us and find a means of reducing their consumption," he added.
Since Monday, vehicles have been queuing at filling stations to buy fuel following rumours of an impending increase in the price of fuel.
GRi../
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 March 2000
An eleven-member standing committee to monitor and ensure compliance of the directive on procurement of made-in-Ghana goods by public sector institutions was inaugurated on Tuesday in Accra.
The committee under the chairmanship of the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Dan Abodakpi, would streamline the procurement of goods and services as well as establish an effective monitoring and tracking system for both tendered contracts and sole-sourced negotiated contracts.
Cabinet last year approved the mandatory procurement of made-in-Ghana goods by public sector institution as announced in the President's last sessional address to Parliament.
In furtherance of this policy all public sector institutions are directed to source their procurement requirement from local industries first and suppliers be given 12.5 per cent price band where necessary.
The Ministries, Departments and agencies are directed that in line with the procedure and practices associated with payments for imported goods, and in order not to create liquidity problems for local suppliers, arrangements should be made where possible, with banks to ensure prompt payments for goods supplied.
Mr Peter Pepera, a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, inaugurating it, said while the primary objective of the government’s procurement is to get value for money, it also aims at achieving the aspirations of the national development efforts.
He said it is therefore necessary to shift from the conventional approach of "price" as the most important criterion in the public sector purchasing to a more dynamic approach of the right "mix" of all the purchasing components.
The procurement sector, which is the largest in the domestic market accounts for up to 50 to 70 per cent of imports, an indication of how much foreign exchange is used by the government to meet its procurement requirements.
Mr Pepera said as a result of that, Ghana's balance of payment has been weakened and the government would find it difficult to carry on with its programme of providing infrastructure, good social services such as health, education, electricity and potable water as envisaged under its vision 2020 objectives.
"It is in the face of this realities that governments all over the world no longer see procurement as a system merely to meet their requirements for goods and services".
He urged the members to liaise with the recently formed procurement oversight group to ensure the inclusion of the government's directive on procurement of made-in-Ghana goods by public sector institutions in a new national procurement code.
The Deputy Minister appealed to local industries to buy local raw materials to give more employment opportunities to the people.
Mr Andrew Quayson, Executive Director of Association of Ghana Industries, congratulated the ministry for its involvement in setting up the committee.
After the President's address, the association collected 200 data from its members which indicate that most of the local industries are capable of producing for the public sector institutions.
The association is willing to help its members to improve upon the quality of their products and also to expand their production base, he said.
Mr Quayson commended the Ministry of Health for being the only ministry that buys made-in-Ghana goods and called on the rest to emulate it.
GRi./