GSB cautions on sub-standard cables

Daily Graphic (spread), June 8/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Standards Boards (GSB) has alerted users of electrical cables to a large consignment of smuggled sub-standard cables on the Ghanaian market.
The cables, which are yet to be traced by the GSB, were smuggled into the country through unapproved routes, especially the eastern corridor.
The Head, Marketing and Public Relations of GSB, Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako, at a press conference in Accra, therefore, called on users of electrical cables to be more assertive and careful when purchasing such goods.
He commended the members of the Ghana Electrical Dealers Association (GEDA) for their vigilance which led to the detection of some of the goods on the market.
Mr Amponsah Bediako linked most of the recent fire outbreaks that the country was witnessing to the use of such sub-standard cables and said the situation was very alarming and, therefore, needed to be checked.
Briefing journalists on the fake cables found on the market, a Chief Standards Officer at the GSB, Mr Emmanuel Kwa-Kofi, said tests conducted on some of the cables showed that they were of inferior standard.
He said the test revealed that a 1.5 conductor cable which should have a maximum of 12.1 ohms rather had 133 ohms, while a 2.5 square millimetre conductor cable which should have a standard conductivity of 7.41 ohms measured 74 ohms.
Giving the implications of those findings, Mr Kwa-Kofi said it those cables were used in wiring a building, it would not be able to withstand the heat that would be generated by the electricity and, therefore, cause fire outbreaks.
The Chairman of GEDA, Mr Joseph Obeng, said his outfit became alarmed when it was alerted to a truck full of fake electrical cables that was being offloaded in Accra but said before GEDA could alert the GSB, the owners had gone underground.
He said as a major stakeholder in electrical cables, the association was doing everything possible to ensure that the GSB and other relevant bodies got rid of all inferior cables from the Ghanaian market.
According to him, because most African countries had banned the importation or production of such sub-standard electrical cables, Ghana had become a dumping ground for some manufacturers from other countries outside the sub-region.