Electrical dealers criticize GSA over ‘fake cable’ report

• Posted on November 9, 2017
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

President of the Ghana Electrical Dealers Association (GEDA), Joseph Obeng, has slammed the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) over its report indicating that 70 percent of imported electrical cables into the country are substandard and could cause fires.

The Association’s President, Joseph Obeng, said that presence of fake cables was an indictment on the GSA’s regulatory standards at the ports since the Authority shirked its responsibility of checking the influx of these fake cables.

The GSA had also stated that a nationwide surveillance conducted revealed that over 70 percent of all imported electrical cable brands on the market were substandard and could cause fires.

But Mr. Obeng said indications from the GSA were ill-intentioned “because they [the GSA] have so many other imported cables that have come to their institutions for testing and they have all passed.”

He further held that the report “seemed to portray that all imported cables are not passing the test so it was not in good taste.”

GSA as gatekeepers

Whilst noting that there were some dealers that cut corners, Mr. Obeng said the “onus lies on the Ghana Standards Authority to make sure that we put a stop to this influx of inferior cables.”

He stressed that “when you bring goods, they [the GSA] have to do the testing before they give the clearance for the goods to leave the port, and so it is an indictment on themselves because, in any case, how were those goods able to go to the market?”

GSA to name and shame

Deputy Chief Executive of the GSA, Dr. Poku Adusei, indicated to Citi News that the Authority will in due course publish names of electrical cable brands that failed its critical safety requirement test for conductor resistance.

Source: Citifmonline