The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has urged local artisans to formalise their businesses and be abreast of procurement processes in order to attract government contracts.
This comes as artisans in the country bemoan what they term marginalisation in the participation and execution of government contracts.
According to them, the situation is worrying and fast becoming a threat to national security as most artisans are rendered jobless.
However, speaking to Class Business on the sidelines of a forum organised by the Artisans Association of Ghana with funding from the BUSAC Fund, Acting Chief Executive of the Public Procurement Authority, Mr Frank Mante, encouraged local artisans to take advantage of the processes introduced by the government to formalise their businesses.
He said: “A number of the artisans are not registered in the first place. Majority of these artisans are just working as individuals and there is always a risk in dealing with just individuals…I’ve had a brief chat with them…beyond registering they need to also understand the procurement process…
“The point is that if they are not told what they are expected to do, they might continue to go under that perception that the law does not make room for them to compete.”
For her part, Ms Yvonne Konadu-Wiafe of the Ghana Revenue Authority encouraged artisans to register for their Tax Identification Number (TIN) so that they can be captured into the tax net.
“Once you have satisfied your tax obligations, getting the tax clearance isn’t difficult…The most important thing is for you to have satisfied your tax obligations or have made the necessary arrangement to clear all outstanding obligations. And, so, for the TIN, we are saying it is not difficult for you to obtain your TIN. We have about 50 small taxpayer offices all over the 16 regions. You can just chance on any of our offices, get an application form and then process it…For those who are very good at IT, you can easily download the form on our website and do the processing online,” she stated.
President of the Artisans Association of Ghana, Gideon Bidor lauded moves by the PPA and GRA to simplify permitting and documentation processes for local artisans to attract government contracts.
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