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The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has reiterated the government's resolve to partner the private sector to develop the local economy.
Speaking at the 25th-anniversary celebration of Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited (TCCL), an electrical cable manufacturer, in Tema yesterday[June 22, 2022], Dr Bawumia said the government, through its industrialisation policy, was committed to providing an enabling environment for the private sector to partner the government to develop and sustain businesses, create jobs, reduce poverty, as well as enhance value addition

The anniversary, on the theme: “25 Years of impacting Ghana: New ideas, new products, new markets”, was graced by a Deputy Minister of Energy, William Owuraku Aidoo; a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Michael Okyere Baafi; captains of industry, the Metropolitan Chief Executive for Tema, Yohane Amarh Ashitey, traditional rulers, as well as clients and distributors of TCCL.

The TCCL seized the opportunity to outdoor its latest product, a wholly made-in-Ghana coaxial cable, a type of transmission line used to carry high-frequency electrical signals with low losses, to its range of products.

The Vice-President said with the right support and business climate, Ghana could achieve the unimaginable and be competitive on the world market, in spite of the numerous challenges that existed all around, saying the TCCL had proved that what others had done could be done here in Ghana and even exceed expectation.

He said the government was very much aware of the various challenges facing business operations in Ghana, including access to finance, high cost of inputs and rampant competition from imported products, and indicated that its policies were geared towards the gradual to transformation of the business climate in Ghana.


Dr Bawumia reiterated the President’s commitment to support the growth of the country’s industrial sector and the success of proven performers such as the TCCL and enable them to become major contributors to creating direct and indirect jobs.

Industrialisation
The Vice-President said the government was on course to achieving its industrialisation ambition, adding that there was more to be done to support indigenous players and gave an assurance that it would do its best to make Ghana the best place for local businesses to thrive

He said challenges faced by the world, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the coronavirus pandemic, made it all the more important for countries to become self-reliant.

He said he was glad that a major policy, such as the One District, One Factory, was gaining ground and indicated that the government would do more to empower indigenous businesses to enable them to thrive, generate more employment and make the country strong.

He said from the very beginning of its tenure, industrialisation had been a strategic priority of the government, and initiatives such as the 1D1F had transformed from a political mantra to an effective flagship programme geared towards the revamping of the economy to create job opportunities for the youth.

Local content
While commending the management of the TCCL for its spirit of enterprise and progress over the last 25 years, Dr Bawumia said with the coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area, with its secretariat in Accra, there was no reason local entities such as TCCL could not become regional and ultimately continental champions.

He called on institutions such as the Ministry of Energy, the Electricity Company of Ghana, the Volta River Authority, the Ghana Grid Company Limited, the Northern Electricity Distribution Company, the mining companies and as many local entities as possible to increase their utilisation of outputs of indigenous companies such as the TCCL to develop capacity in the manufacturing industry for electrical cables, conductors, accessories, among others, build local industries and ensure the employment of Ghanaians and promote value addition.

Import duties and taxes
 
The Executive Chairman of TCCL, Tony Oteng-Gyasi, said the future of Ghana lay in rapid industrialisation, and it was the manufacturing sector which could deliver the needed jobs with adequate incomes to grow and sustain families.

He said TCCL was ready, willing and able to compete with cable manufacturers anywhere in the world in terms of pricing and quality, provided the government took steps to rigidly apply the laws on import duty and taxes.

Background
TCCL is a world-class Ghanaian company which has, over the years, grown its production capacity to process over 8,000 tonnes of aluminium, copper and PVC annually into electrical and telecommunication cable and other conductors

Unique in its sector, the company always ensures that its cables are flame retardant, low smoke, lead-free and support the maintenance of uninterrupted and reliable delivery of power to industry and the built environment.

It is also the only cable manufacturer that has invested in a polyvinyl chloride compounding plant which, in addition to supplying its manufacturing process, also sells to other cable manufacturers in Ghana and the rest of Africa.