The government is amending the Public Procurement Act to compel state institutions to prioritise locally manufactured products.

President John Mahama says the amendment will introduce a schedule to the Procurement Act containing a list, from the Ghana Standards Authority, of licensed Ghanaian products and the companies and factories that produce them.

Under the proposed arrangement, government agencies, schools, hospitals and other public institutions that require products on the approved list will be required to procure directly from the local companies and factories that manufacture them.

President Mahama made the announcement at the inauguration of Northshore Apparel in Savelugu, where he emphasised the need for government to deliberately use public procurement to support domestic manufacturing.

“We also are amending the Procurement Act, and we're adding to a schedule of the new Procurement Act a list from the Ghana Standards Authority of all licensed Ghanaian products,” he said.

According to President Mahama, the system will also provide recommended prices for the listed products each year.

He explained that this would mean government institutions would not necessarily have to go through competitive tendering where an approved Ghanaian company already produces the required item.

“So that this is not a matter of going for competitive tender. This company produces it, this is their recommended price, you must go and buy this product instead of buying an imported product,” he said.

President Mahama said the policy is aimed at ensuring that government expenditure directly supports local businesses and creates a guaranteed market for Ghanaian manufacturers.

He said the need for such a policy has become particularly clear in the production of uniforms and other equipment that could easily be manufactured locally.

“I took note of the Northshore CEO's mention of local production of uniforms. I think that it is a thing whose time has come. We need to be firm and insist on it now,” he said.

The President cited the Kumasi Shoe Factory as an example of how local manufacturing initiatives had previously been undermined by a preference for imported products.

He recalled that during his previous administration, government entered into a public-private partnership to revamp the factory, which subsequently produced boots for the Ghana Armed Forces.

“But because people prefer to import, they know why they prefer to import rather than buy from a government factory, they refused to buy the Kumasi Shoe Factory boots and rather kept importing the boots from China,” President Mahama said.

He said Ghanaian manufacturers already have the capacity to produce several products currently imported into the country.

“Uniforms we can produce here, boots we can produce here, protective gear for industry we can produce here,” he stated.

President Mahama subsequently challenged Northshore Apparel to expand its production capacity in the next phase of its development to include uniforms and protective equipment for Ghana’s security services.

“As part of this hub, I will challenge Alhaji Nurudeen that in the next phase we want to see the production of protective gear, military uniforms, police uniforms, prisons uniforms, immigration uniforms,” he said.

The President said government would no longer support the continued importation of uniforms that could be produced locally.

“We will not go and buy the uniforms from anywhere,” he declared.

He added, “Our commanders and all will wear made-in-Ghana military uniforms.”