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Marketing Manager for Tropical Cable & Conductor Limited (TCCL), Mr Michael S.N.A. Abbey, has asked the government to enforce the Local Content Regulations on procurement that mandate contractors to procure locally manufactured electrical cables for projects.

He said when implemented to the letter, the policy would help boost the operations of local cable manufacturers to expand and employ more people, reduce the fire incidence in the country and cut out the import of inferior cables.

The electrical engineer was speaking to the media in the Volta Regional capital, Ho after TCCL hosted Certified Electrical Wiring Professionals, Electrical Contractors, and other stakeholders to a fire safety workshop.

The workshop brought together more than 200 professionals and stakeholders in the electrical wiring business as well as executives from the Ghana National Fire Service from the Volta and Oti Regions to explore safety measures in wiring in homes and companies.

It is a regular event by the wholly indigenous cable manufacturer to equip the professionals of modern skills to ensure quality wiring and reduce the incidence of fire outbreaks.

They were taken through the need to perform electrical testing sequence on non-domestic electrical installations as well as to comply with electrical safety standards.

Mr Abbey said there was no doubt that locally manufactured cables were better than the imported ones, which were largely inferior and substandard.

This, he said required that the country patronised its own products to help develop indigenous enterprises and grow the economy.

A leading cable manufacturer, TCCL produces a range of electrical cables, including sheathed & non-sheathed for fixed wiring, aluminium & copper overheadline conductors, single core, multicore power & control cables (armoured or non-armoured), communication cables, solar cables (photovoltaic cables) and pvc insulating & sheathing compounds.

Stakeholders’ views

Nana Ama Osei Appiah from the Electrical Wiring Secretariat of the Ghana Energy Commission commended TCCL for the initiative.

She said it would help to refresh the competences of the participants and ensure quality work to help reduce fire, explosions, and other hazardous effects from poor wiring.

She said since the enforcement of the electrical wiring regulation, which was passed by parliament in 2012, there have been drastic reduction in electrical fire outbreaks after electricians started receiving certification to enable them to do electrical installations.

Nana Ama said the secretariat and the commission in general was concerned about the rampant fire incidence and initiated steps to help reduce them.

In line with that she said the commission had certified over 10,000 electricians across the country to enable them to do proper electrical installations to reduce electric fires.

She was hopeful that the knowledge received at the workshop would protect lives and properties.

She, however, bemoaned the continuous patronage of inferior electrical cables by electricians, stating that such acts were causing a lot of damage to the industry.

She advised that these electricians must not compromise on quality and should always go for best materials and accessories and work with integrity to save lives.

"When you go in for an inferior cable, it can be dangerous as it will be used on someone's property that has taken so many years to build. You must therefore be competent in your work with the certification you have; hold your job in high esteem and integrity to rebuild the industry and make the country safe for all", she said.

A Resource Person, Elder A. K. Torto, said periodic assessment was necessary in every wiring installation because it determined whether electrical circuits or equipment were overloaded and also ensured safety.

"Every wiring aged 25 years and above should be changed. Wrong use of installations and gadgets and illegal electrical connections causes electrical fires which drains the country's human resource and logistics", he said.
He urged the electrical contractors association to train their members and educate them extensively on the need to observe safety rules; and called on them to expose non-certified contractors who undermine the work of electrical contractors and electricians in the country.