The Ghana Publishing Corporation has called on the government to enforce Cabinet’s decision directing that 20 per cent of all printing jobs of the ministries, departments and agencies be allocated to it.

It pointed out that through such action; the government would not only save billions of cedis through value for money printing contracts but also protect confidential government and state information from falling into unauthorized hands.

The Managing Director of GPC, J.K Fauchie-Sobreh, who made the call in a statement, said the corporation currently had the best printers the country could boast of and that with the requisite support of the government, inclusive of availing to it funds to procure modern printing machines, it could carry out any printing job at the lowest possible cost.

According the Managing Director, the company, over the years, had excelled in the printing of ballot papers for national, presidential and parliamentary elections, district assembly and unit committee polls, the reports of committees and commissions of enquiry, government bulletins and White Papers and many other documents of significance to the country.

“The problem now is the source of funding for the purchase of new machines for the corporation to deliver,” he said.

According to GPC sources, many MDAs owe the GPC billions of cedis for unpaid printed work and that this has contributed to undermining the financial capabilities of the corporation as well as its ability to fully discharge its tax and other obligations and procure the relevant tax documents to bid for government contracts.

The sources pointed out that currently, the government was losing billions of cedis through the printing of fake government documents and value books via other printing houses, some of which were found even on the market.

“That is why the government must enforce the recommendation that at least government printing jobs from the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary and more especially jobs bearing the cost of arms, should be awarded to the GPC as the government printer,” the source said.

They explained that notwithstanding the fact that the GPC was still wholly state owned and that it discharged useful functions for governmental institutions, its operations were not subsidized and it was expected to generate resources to pay its staff, who currently numbered about 250.

The sources indicated that the corporation owed arrears of statutory deductions of social security contributions of its workers, as well as tax obligation to the Internal Revenue Service, and that while some payments had already been effected, arrangements were being made to settle the remainder.

Source: Daily Graphic