The Executive Council of the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO), the umbrella organization and development unit of Suame Magazine has expressed gratitude to the government for allocating GH¢700,000 in the 2010 budget statement to support the establishment of the Suame Magazine Automatics Technical Institute.

The project is intended to introduce the artisans into modern vehicular repair technology using the ICT in auto mechanics to enable the artisans cope with the current technology whose absence is threatening the survival of the artisanal engineering industry in the country. The government budget statement captured this project to be implemented in its 2010 budget to parliament.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the President of SMIDO, Mr. George Asamoah Amankwa in Kumasi. The statement said the hope of a better future for Suame Magazine and the expressed desire and commitment by SMIDO to turn Suame Magazine into a technological advanced industrial estate has been given a significant boost by the government. The statement further called on government to make the artisanal engineering industry the bedrock of its industrial policy and to use this historic response to strengthen the relationship between Suame Magazine and the government for the development of Suame Magazine.

The statement called on all the players in the fitting artisanal industry to join SMIDO to collectively thank the government for this unique gesture which is a striking expression of the value and recognition government has towards Suame Magazine and the fitting industry as a whole.

The statement further called on all the stakeholders in the industry to see this as a victory for the fitting industry as a whole since such a project would serve the entire industry of which Suame Magazine is only playing a leading role.

The statement also extended appreciation to the Ministry of Environment Science & Technology, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Finance for taking the initiative to meet with SMIDO to explore common grounds for partnership to develop Suame magazine.

The Consultant to SMIDO and industrial Development Planner, Mr.Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, in an interview said the government’s bold response in this sector is very appropriate and timely to save suame magazine from the threat of collapse which is very imminent, and the horrors of mass unemployment and poverty. The intervention to bridge this technological gap with its own brand of technical institute for professional skills upgrading to render the industry competitive in modern engineering practices is a strategic development project without which Ghana’s quest for middle income status would remain a pipedream. He said it is also strategic for the entire Kumasi’s economy as Suame Magazine is the propelling sector of Kumasi’s economy; it is the most important project to have been earmarked for Kumasi in recent times as the collapse of Suame Magazine would virtually create a ghost economy out of Kumasi.

He has called on all the key stakeholders in Kumasi, The Kumasi Traditional Council, Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, and Members of Parliament from Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council and all key stakeholders nationwide to actively support the project given its symbolic economic importance to Kumasi, Ashanti region and Ghana as a whole.

Artisans at the SMATI and their instructors