Gov’t to investigate acquisition of Assembly Press’ land

Government would soon initiate investigations into how private developers acquired properties belonging to the Ghana Publishing Company Limited (GPCL) at Tema without due compensation.

“We will cause investigations to be conducted into how these properties at Tema are now in private hands,” Mr Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Information and Media Relations said on Wednesday when he paid an official visit to the GPCL in Accra.

Mr Ayariga directed the management of GPCL to formally write to the Ministry and provide details on the properties and those that were not compensated for.

The Minister said although government reviewed the situation and directed that 20 per cent of government printing needs should be ceded to the press, most government agencies were not complying with the directives.

“I promised to take up the issue with the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure that all government agencies comply with the directive to enable you generate revenue to acquire new machinery,” he added.

Mr Ayariga noted that as government tried to secure jobs for the staff from the government agencies, they should also try to establish themselves in the private sector to achieve greater efficiency.

He, therefore, urged the workers to continue to be innovative and make their presence felt in the market and work towards attracting significant improvement.

Mr David K. Dzreke, Managing Director of GPCL, earlier complained about the difficulties the company had to go through to secure jobs.

He said such difficulties put pressure on the company in terms of acquisition of machinery and other logistics to facilitate work.

He said though the company was expected to get most of its jobs from the government agencies, it did not happen and urged government to implement the 20 per cent quota system.

Mr Dzreke noted that some time ago, government approved the request to give the company that percentage of its publishing needs but “as we speak now the approval was still sitting at the Ministry of Finance’s desk’.

He said he was hopeful that the quota when implemented could change the fortunes of the company.

He also expressed concern about how the lands, especially those in the Tema Metropolis were being encroached upon and urged the Minister to intervene.

Source: GNA