The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has shut down two plastic producing companies which are owned by some Chinese nationals.
The companies which were shut down after a swoop exercise by the GSA failed to meet regulatory standards.
The factories which are both operating without the required license are located at Sakaman near Dansoman.
The GSA explained that the factories were also located in residential areas despite the law prohibiting their operations in such places.
The companies are Zheng Hua Feng Limited and L.W.W Waste Plastics Recycling Company Limited
Zheng Hua Feng shares a compound with a church and some houses, posing a huge risk to the workers and residents around because of its heavy wiring and poor ventilation which could easily lead to a fire outbreak.
George Kojo Anti , the Business Development Manager of the GSA in an interview Citi Business News said that the authority has initiated measures to ensure that they were visible countrywide to check some of these irregularities.
He explained that GSA staff did undercover shopping from companies they suspected were not acting in accordance with the law.
According to him, the items are later tested to find out the standard of quality.
“It is by this act that we have discovered the operations of these companies. Our immediate action is to shut them down and hand over the evidence we have on them to the police for subsequent prosecution if the need arises”.
Further interrogation showed that workers at both companies earn very little, some as low as 10 cedis 65 pesewas per day.
George Kofi Anti revealed that one of the owners of the factories has previously been caught operating a similar illegal business under a different company name.
He explains that no such company will go unpunished.
He said the authority’s action was in line with the Standards Act NRCD 173, which mandates the GSA to prohibit the sale of any goods that are not fit for the country.
He added that the country was open for legitimate business and that any organizations that flouted the laws of the country would face the full rigors of the law.
“We are not against companies operating in the country, we only want to make it clear that in order to operate any kind of business in this country it must be one that is within the law because going contrary to the law will result in serious sanctions”.
