Rejoinder: Publishers conniving to print textbooks offshore

With reference to the publication issued by the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association (GPPCA) in the Daily Graphic dated April 20, 2022 (page 13), the Ghana Publishers Association (GPA) wishes to inform the Ministry of Education, stakeholder organizations, media, and the general public that this assertion from the printers is not true and should be disregarded.

First of all, in consultation with the Association’s member-publishers that submitted their documents to the Ministry of Education for this textbook procurement on 17th June, 2020 (tender deadline), the Ministry of Education has not signed any contract with the publishers yet.

The Ministry published a pre-qualified list of Ghanaian printers for publishers to select and secure printing quotations from as well as signing an MoU with the printers. This has been done but the Ministry is yet to conclude the procurement process with the publishers.

Prior to this assertion, the leadership of the Ghana Publishers Association and the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association met three times at the Conference Room of the Bureau of Ghana Languages, Accra. After the joint meeting between publishers and printers on August 10, 2021, some recommendations were made and the same were communicated to the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Yaw Adutwum that the key interest of publishers and printers is to get books to schools and our preparedness to work with the Ministry to achieve this.

Also, the interest of the two parties is to develop the indigenous publishing and printing industry thus supporting local printing and publishing.

Subsequent meetings were held on January 21, 2022, and February 16, 2022. At these meetings, publishers and printers gave the assurance and commitment to the full compliance of the 100% local printing. One of the implementation tools was to form a sub-committee (task force) to supervise the printing of the textbooks in the country and membership of the task force would constitute book industry players such as publishers and printers.

Publishers and printers have been working together to ensure a smooth procurement process and therefore this speculation and assertion from the Printers Association are very unfortunate. It should be on record that there is no intention or evidence as indicated. If printers have any issues there is already an established and appropriate dialogue platform to discuss and resolve issues.

The Ghana Publishers Association assures the Ministry of Education and the general public that publishers are in full support of the Ministry’s directive and will work with local printers to achieve this objective.