300 Trading Standards Inspectors commissioned

A total of 300 Trading Standards Inspectors (TSIs), who have under­gone two weeks intensive training at the Koforidua Police Academy, were commissioned by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) in Accra on Friday.

They were the third cohorts of TSIs to be commissioned by the GSA with a mandate to ensure sufficient consumer protection and to check the quality of goods and services on the market.

The TSIs underwent drill manoeuvres and physical training and were also taught the GSA Act 2022 (Act 1078), market surveil­lance, investigation and handling of evidence, report writing, emotional intelligence, intelligence gathering, and code of ethics, during their two weeks of intensive training.

Speaking at the event, the Min­ister of Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry (MoTAI), Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, said that the com­missioning of the third cohorts of TSIs would help in ensuring fair trading practices and consumer protection.

According to her, MoTAI, through the GSA, was resolute in scaling up the training programme for TSIs across the country.

“With the training of more TSIs, we can resolve to appropriate and internationally recognised ways of measurement to ensure fairness in our system,” Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said.

She also commended companies such as GHACEM, a govern­ment-owned manufacturing cement company for supporting MoTAI in promoting standardisation and encouraging other companies to do the same.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare urged the TSIs to view their actions as a service to the nation and not to intimidate people, adding that, “I do not want to hear stories where manufacturers are being blackmailed.”

She called on all relevant stakeholders, including the GSA, MoTAI, and the government, to support the TSIs with the needed resources to enable them to deliver on their mandate.

For her part, the Acting Director, Inspectorate Division, GSA, Mrs Jessica Nkansah, said that the TSI was established in accordance with Act 1078, underpinned the national quality policy that placed focus on market surveillance that aligned with the government’s direction in relation to trade.

She said that the GSA Act 2022 (Act 1078) made provision for in­spectors appointed by the Director General of the GSA under section 42 of Act 2022 (Act 1078) and in­spectors appointed by the Director General of GSA in prior concerns of the board of GSA under section 62 of the same Act.

According to Mrs Nkansah, the TSIs fell into both aforementioned categories with the role of carrying out inspections of goods as directed by the GSA in compliance with the provisions of the GSA Act 2022 (Act 1078) to verify the conformity of goods, processes, and services with the relevant mandatory or other applicable standards.

The rollout of the TSIs, Mrs Nkansah said, was complimented by increasing the capacity of GSA in all areas to ensure speedy resolution of issues.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Deputy Director (Conformity Assessment), GSA, Mr Clifford Edmund Frimpong, urged the TSIs to build on the accomplishment of the first and second cohorts, which included the reduction in the circulation of substandard goods through surprised inspections and educational campaigns.

Present at the event were officials of MoTAI, including the Chief Director, Mr Noah Tumfo, officials of GSA, and the Commanding Of­ficer of the Eastern Regional Police Training School, Chief Superinten­dent Charity Owereko Amankwah.

 BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY

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