KNUST lecturer Daniel Owusu-Ansah reappointed chair of Ghana Publishing Company
Dr Daniel Owusu-Ansah, a lecturer in the Department of History and Political Studies at KNUST, has been reappointed to chair the GPC board
A political historian and lecturer in the Department of History and Political Studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Daniel Owusu-Ansah, has been reappointed to serve as the chairman of the board of directors of Ghana Publishing Company (GPC).
The seven-person board has also reappointed the GPC managing director, David Boateng Asante, to serve as a member together with Paul Twum-Barimah, Dr Kingsley Nyarko, Lawuratu Musah-Saaka, Isaac Kofi Appiah and Beatrice Barwuah, all nominees of the president.
The newly constituted board of directors is expected to partner with the GPC management to consolidate the gains the organisation has made over the past four years.
The aim is to make the company even more profitable, and thereby the best in the printing and publishing Industries in Ghana.
The GPC story
In 2017, the Akufo-Addo government inherited a financially bankrupt and heavily indebted Ghana Publishing Company Ltd. The organisation was bedevilled by multiple challenges such as manual issuance of receipts at the principal business centre, resulting in leakages and accounting challenges; a backlog of unaudited accounts dating back to the 2012 financial year; and non-compliance with statutory regulations.
Other challenges of the GPC were difficulty in paying staff salaries and emoluments and the inheritance of a legacy tax liability of over GHC4 million (GHC4,000,000) due to non-payment of PAYE deductions and withholding tax.
The company, after a sustained period of prudent financial management practices under the leadership of David Asante, is now a profit-making entity, averaging an annual increment of 47% in net profit during the period under review.
Ghana Publishing now has up-to-date audited accounts, has introduced mobile money payment options to reduce human interference, regularised the payment of statutory obligations, improved its debt recovery from state institutions and upgraded its electronic payment systems to avoid leakages as well as improve accountability.
Better wages for workers
The current government inherited a company whose infrastructure was in very bad shape. The company’s premises were in a state unbefitting of a state institution.
On taking office as the managing director of GPC, David Asante totally refurbished the business centre together with his team, using internally generated funds, to make it customer-friendly. He successfully paved the entire 2.5 acres of the company’s premises to make it conducive for customers and motor traffic.
The old company warehouse was also transformed into an ultra-modern printing centre. The whole office complex for GPC has been renovated.
When they took office, Asante and his team signed a memorandum of understanding with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to work on staff capacity-building and exchange experience and ideas. Staff promotions, which had been suspended, were reinstated.
Annual promotions are now a mainstay of Ghana Publishing Company. To boost morale, Asante facilitated scholarships and soft loans for over 50 staff to pursue academic courses. The administration has overseen increments of 12.5%, 22.5%, 15% and 16% in salaries for the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 wage opener/collective bargaining negotiations, respectively.
A total of 94 staff were employed during the four-year tenure of David Asante. Regular training and development courses were also organised for company staff in areas such as performance management, customer service, report writing, costing and estimation.
Before the current GPC administration assumed office, the last major investment in machines the company had had was in 1996. Two printing machines had been purchased from the National Lottery Authority in 2016; however, neither of the machines was in operation when Asante took office.
Over the first term of his tenure, despite financial challenges, GPC has been able, using internally generated funds, to acquire core equipment: one five-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster and two two-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster printing machines.
Other equipment purchased includes two Heidelberg GTO printing machines, one 32-fold Heidelberg folding machine, one perfect binder, four industrial stitching machines, one Canon Image digital printing machine, one Canon Image runner digital printing machine, one industrial laminating machine, one computer-to-plate machine and two cutting machines.
Ghana Publishing Company
Ghana Publishing Company (formerly Ghana Publishing Corporation) was incorporated on 9 March 1965 under Legislative Instrument 413, which was amended by LI 672 of 11 December 1970 to take over the functions of the former Government Printing Department and administration of the Government Free Textbook schemes.
The Assembly Press was converted into a limited liability company under the Statutory Corporations (Conversion to Companies) Act 1993 (Act 461) and renamed Ghana Publishing Company Ltd in 2007.
GPC exists primarily to print and publish high-quality books and stationery at competitive prices for educational institutions, government departments and agencies and the general public.
Wilberforce Asare
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