A kilo is not Olonka, let's fix it

Agric Minister Kwesi Ahwoi

Agric Minister Kwesi Ahwoi on Saturday revisited the age-old conundrum of getting standardized scales to function in Ghanaian markets and charged the leadership of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG) to lead a crusade for a solution.

He observed that a kilo measures the same all over the world including the West Africa sub-region, except in Ghana where markets are awash with measuring devices calibrated by the seller's eye.

The occasion was the 21st Annual Presidential Dinner Dance of the CIMG and the 11th Closing Ceremony of the CIMG Executive School on Saturday, held at the Accra International Conference Centre.

“In the sector where I am, we face the biggest challenge in marketing, and that is where we sell with the eye and …we haggle over price, we don't sell by weights and measures. All around us in west Africa, a kilo is a kilo. In Ghana, a kilo is an olonka or anything that goes by the name of olonka and when you look into the Olonka, you may find some cement bag thrust in there, and when you look at the bottom of the Olonka, you may see a puffed-in section of the Olonka so that whatever you are buying is not by any measure. It is only when you go home that you realize that the Olonka maize, or gari or rice that you bought is about half the quantity that you were supposed to have been sold.

“That cannot take us to the global competitive market because in that global competitive market, a kilo is a kilo.”

Story by Myjoyonline.com/Ghana