The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kantanka Automobile Limited, Kwadwo Safo Jnr, has appealed to Government to provide policy guidelines for the manufacturing or assembly of cars in Ghana.
According to Mr Safo, the absence of the legislation is hampering the growth of Ghanaian companies seeking to enter or grow in the vehicle manufacturing sector, as the government agencies involved insist there is no guideline on taxation.
Thus, cars manufactured in Ghana by Kantanka Automobile are charged the same duty and levies as vehicles manufactured outside and imported into Ghana, although under normal circumstances locally manufactured vehicles are expected to be lower priced, he bemoaned.
Mr Safo Jnr, son of renowned industrialist Apostle Kwadwo Safo, made the appeal when he called on the Vice President, H.E Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, at the Flagstaff House on Thursday.
Explaining further, the Kantanka CEO said this lack of clarity is negatively impacting on the registration process for Kantanka vehicles by new owners, affecting growth.
He cited legislation in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Angola and Egypt to back his call for the enactment of the appropriate legislation to help Ghanaian vehicle manufacturing companies such as Kantanka Automobile.
In brief remarks, Vice President Bawumia indicated Government’s readiness to study existing best practices elsewhere to help enact the appropriate legislation to help indigenous companies grow and thrive.
Well, that’s a nice move, but to know that there is no such legislation backing automobile industry since independence is a shame, and shows how narrow our leaders think. If fighting gallamsey has cost this nation a gallant soldier then I wonder when our leaders will dream of going to space. I think we can go far beyond what we’re doing as a nation.
So Dr vice president I think you must let that legislation happen as a matter of urgency, and walk the talk even beyond the campaign promises. We as a nation can go to space too. Please equip our technical universities to think that line. There are to many doctors and professors in engineering.
Dr vice president yes we can ride our on locally manufactured vehicles. Please make it happen under your administration.
Nice piece, So true !