General News of Saturday, 29 March 2008

Source: GNA

Ghanaians preference for foreign products

is impeding national development

Wa, March 29, GNA - Major Albert Don-Chebe (Rtd), Head of Corporate Communications and Customer Care of the Ghana Telecommunication (GT) Company, has said Ghanaians' preference for products of foreign companies that are competing with the GT was impeding the progress of the company in its efforts at improving performance.

These practices affect national institutions such as the GT from growing and competing favourably with foreign companies that had come with huge capital only to make profits and repatriate them. Maj Don-Chebe said this at a press soiree in Wa on Friday. He said if Ghanaians did not change their preference for foreign products, a time would come when all national institutions would be sold to foreign companies due to financial constraints. "We cannot develop any national institution to the highest level if we don't patronize products produced in the country.'' "Let us think of Ghana first in our choice of products so that our companies can also grow and be viable to buy other foreign companies like what we are experiencing today in the country", he said. Major Don-Chebe said GT had incurred huge losses financially through cable theft and that individuals and government organisations owned the company up to 30 billion old Ghana cedis and urged them to settle the debt.

Major Don-Chebe said this would help the company to buy new equipment to improve its service delivery and take care of salaries of its employees. 29 March 08