Accra, July 17, GNA - The absence of any legal or administrative control over the hair and beauty industry in the country has been identified as the reason behind the mushrooming of hair care salons. Speaking at the Third National Delegates' Conference of the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association, Mrs. Joyce Appiah, National President of the Association, said a lot of damage was therefore being caused to the hair of unsuspecting clients.

She therefore called on the government to set up a State Board of Cosmetology to see to the issuance of licenses to hairdressers before they could operate.

Mrs. Appiah said members of the Association were now taking the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) Trade Test as part of their training programme to improve their quality. She said GHABA, in collaboration with their counterparts in Denmark, South Africa, Niger and Burkina Faso, was spearheading the setting up of an African Training and Assessment Programme Manual and Code of Ethics for members. Mrs Appiah said with the assistance of the Social Marketing Foundation, the Association now had HIV/AIDS education as part of its syllabus.

The Association had set up an HIV/AIDS relief fund to take care of members who were infected and urged all Ghanaians to support the fund. The National President said last year, the Ghana Standards Board gave the Association a representation on its technical committee on cosmetics and appealed to other state agencies to do the same. In a message read on her behalf, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Pare, Deputy Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment, said the establishment of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education (COVET) would provide a new horizon in dealing with some of the problems associated with training in the informal sector. It would also to set standards and provide accreditation and certification for graduates in the informal sector based on their competence.

She said the government recently inaugurated the Micro-credit and Small Loans Scheme in addition to other existing micro-credit schemes and urged the Association to organise its membership for financial assistance.

Mrs Osei-Opare said the focus of the ministry was to offer job-related competency based on skills irrespective of one's educational background.

Mr Napoleon Kpoh, General Secretary of Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, said through the initiative of the Union, it had secured a Social Security Old Age Income Scheme for its members and other members in the informal sector.

He said the nation could compete favourably on the international market if we could design and develop appropriate technology to meet the needs of the expanding informal sector.