“Support Printing Industry to generate employment”

Mr. Kofi Buckman, MD of Buck Press Limited

The Managing Director of security printing firm Buck Press Limited, Mr Kofi Buckman, has called on the government to support the growth of the local printing industry for employment generation.

He says for instance, a legislation to compel the government to reserve a minimum of 50 per cent production of packaging materials and phone recharge cards to the local printing industry will be a huge booster for the industry which is currently operating far below capacity owing partly to the lack of government contracts.

He was speaking during a visit to the company by Deputy Trade Minister, Mahama Ayariga on a tour of textbook printing firms.

The Deputy Minster was accompanied on the tour by Messrs J. Appiah Berko and William Turkson, president of the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association and executive secretary respectively.

According to Mr. Buckman, Buck Press was producing at 30 per cent capacity, necessitating the laying off some of its staff to enable the company to break even, explaining that local printers had the full capacity but lacked jobs.

He said, in addition, the government could also support the local printing industry with tax concessions just as they apply to foreign printers, while the Ministry of Education could also be made to procure about 60 per cent of books directly from the local printing industry through competitive tendering.

Mahama Ayariga assured that the government would correct the unfair business practice where local printers of school textbooks pay 32.5 per cent on their inputs as production taxes, while importers of the same textbooks do not pay taxes.

He said the 1952 UNESCO convention that the government signed not to tax imported textbooks, compel some Ghanaians to print their text books abroad and later import them to avoid paying tax.

Mr Ayariga, whose tour took him to other selected companies that print textbooks for schools said the importation of textbooks contravened the government's own policy that 60 per cent of textbooks should be printed locally, noting that all the printing houses had the capacity to meet the 60 per cent local content policy and could even become internationally competitive.

He was baffled that the unfair business practice had existed for so long without redress, saying that local printers of textbooks should, at worst, also enjoy the tax waiver like the importers, in order to create a level ground for all to operate.

The Managing Director of Graphic Communications Group Limited, Mohammed Awal, said although the company had equipment worth over three million pounds sterling (£3 million), lack of government jobs had compelled it to rely on private sector companies.

"The printing industry is a big one which if well nurtured, could be a driving force in the economy", he stated.