The Ghana Publishers Association (GPA) has called for the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) to be stripped of its role in book assessment and approval.

Speaking at a press conference, GPA President, Asare Konadu Yamoah voiced concerns over NaCCA's transparency and impartiality.

“The Ghana Publishers Association cannot trust NaCCA to be an independent, transparent regulator. We are demanding that the book assessment and approval role granted them be withdrawn,” he asked.

He urged Parliament to collaborate with industry stakeholders to establish a new entity to oversee the book assessment process, suggesting that NaCCA should instead concentrate on developing and monitoring the national curriculum.

Mr Yamoah accused NaCCA of bias and misuse of state resources, claiming, "We cannot work with an organisation that has openly declared its intention to support a particular publisher, encourage the Ministry of Education to produce its own textbooks, and use all state power and resources allocated for the implementation of its mandate for such a self-serving agenda.”

Highlighting the risks to intellectual property, Mr Yamoah noted that the need for a trustworthy regulatory body.

“We cannot trust such an organisation with our contents which are protected by copyright. Any abuse of publishers’ intellectual property rights can be considered a threat to that publisher,” he warned.

The Ghana Publishers Association is calling for immediate action from Parliament to ensure the book assessment and approval process is managed by a fair and impartial body, protecting the interests and rights of all publishers in the industry.

Meanwhile, the Association has announced the upward adjustment to the prices of books in the country.

At the conference, Mr Yamoah noted that there will be a 40 percent increment effective June 2024.

According to him, the move has been necessitated by the imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) on imported books as well as other government policies which are negatively affecting the businesses of its members.