Political historian and lecturer at the Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Dr. Daniel Owusu-Ansah, has been reappointed the chairman of the board of directors of the Ghana Publishing Company (GPC).
The seven-member board also has the re-appointed Managing Director of GPC, David Boateng Asante, Paul Twum – Barimah, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko, Madam Lawuratu Musah – Saaka, Mr Isaac Kofi Appiah and Madam Beatrice Barwuah, all nominees of the President, as its members.
The newly constituted board of directors are expected to partner with the management of the GPC to consolidate the gains its organization has made in the last four (4) years in order to make it even more profitable thereby becoming the best in the printing and publishing Industries in Ghana.
The GPCL Story
In 2017, the Akufo-Addo administration inherited a financially bankrupt and heavily indebted Ghana Publishing Company Limited. The organization was bedeviled by multiple challenges such as manual issuance of receipts at the principal business centre resulting in leakages and accounting challenges; backlog of unaudited accounts dating back to the 2012 financial year and non-compliance with statutory regulations.
Some other challenges of the GPC were difficulty in paying staff salaries and emoluments; inheritance of a legacy tax liability of over four million Ghana cedis (Gh₵4,000,000.00) due to non-payment of P.A.Y.E. deductions and Withholding Tax.
The Company, due to prudent financial management practices under the leadership of David Asante, is now a profit-making entity, averaging a 47% annual increment in net profit during the period under review.
In addition, the company now has up to date audited accounts, has introduced Mobile Money payment options to reduce human interference, regularization of the payment of statutory obligations, improvement in debt recovery from state institutions and the upgrading of electronic payment systems to avoid leakages as well as improved accountability.
In the area of infrastructure, the present administration inherited a Company whose infrastructure was in very bad shape. The Company’s premises were in a state unbefitting of a state institution.
Upon taking office as the Managing Director of the Ghana Publishing Company Limited, David Asante and his team through internally generated funds, totally refurbished the Business Centre to make it customer friendly. He successfully paved the entire 2.5-acre premises to make it conducive for customers and vehicular traffic.
The old warehouse of the company was also transformed into a new, ultra-modern printing centre and the entire office complex of the company has also been renovated.
David and his team when they took office, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for staff capacity building and exchange of experience and ideas. Staff promotions, which had been suspended, were reinstated.
Annual promotions are now a mainstay of the Company. To boost morale, David facilitated scholarships and soft loans for over fifty (50) staff to pursue academic programs. The administration has overseen an increment of 12.5%, 22.5%, 15% and 16% in salary for 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 programmes for staff in areas such as Performance Management, Customer Service, Report Writing, Costing and Estimation were also organized for staff of the Ghana Publishing Company Limited.
Prior to the assumption of office of the current administration, the last major investment in machines the Company witnessed was in 1996. Two printing machines were purchased from the national lottery authority in 2016, however, none of the machines were in operation when David Asante took office.
During his tenure, the Company has been able to acquire the following machines/equipment using internally generated funds despite the financial challenges; One 5-Colour Heidelberg Speedmaster Printing Machine, and two 2-Colour Heidelberg Speedmaster Printing Machines.
Other equipment purchased are two Heidelberg GTO printing machines, one 32-fold Heidelberg folding machines, 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 called Ghana Publishing Corporation) was incorporated on March 9, 1965 under Legislative Instrument No. 413, and subsequently amended by L.I. 672 of December 11, 1970 to take over the functions of the former Government Printing Department and the 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 461, 1993, and re-named Ghana Publishing Company Limited in 2007.
The GPC exist primarily to print and publish very high quality books and stationery for Educational Institutions, Government Departments and the General Public at competitive prices.
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Source: Asaase Radio