The Energy Commission has announced a ban on the importation of some electrical appliances and renewable energy products.

About 20 electrical appliances have been prohibited from importation and sale.

The 20 appliances prohibited from importation and sale include: “Air Conditioner, comfort fan, computer, distribution transformer, electric kettle, electric motor, incandescent lamp, industrial fan.”

The others include washing machine, microwave oven, refrigerating appliance, rice cooker among others. 

A statement signed by Energy Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh noted the ban had become necessary in order “to prevent Ghana from becoming a desirable destination for both new but substandard and used appliances, to save the economy by reducing electricity demand which necessitates additional generation capacity with its associated fuel cost.

 “To protect the environment and safeguard the health of citizens from air pollution caused by increased power generation; and to protect the consumer from purchasing unsuitable appliances and the payment of unnecessarily high electricity bills.”

The Ministry urged “the general public, particularly importers of electrical appliances and renewable energy products as well as prospective manufacturers to note” the above.

Meanwhile, having had hints of the ban ahead of the announcement of the prohibition of importation of such appliances, the Concerned Second-Hand Dealers Association (CSHDA) called on the Energy Commission to do well to regulate their activities and stop the blanket claims of banning the importation of second-hand goods into the country.

According to the association, the Energy Commission at one time admitted that some new items imported into the country are substandard and, thus, want to regulate these items through the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) which has also admitted that 80 to 90 per cent of second-hand items meet standards in a meeting with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).

At the said meeting, GSA raised concerns about how to regulate the items that are imported into the country and not a total ban on such items, the association explained.

“So why is the commission not regulating second-hand items but bent on banning them from entering the country?” the association queried. 

Mr Daniel Asare, Chairperson of CSHDA, made this call at a press conference held in Accra to address some of the claims by the Energy Commission on the activities of second-hand dealers.

He noted that claims that many of the second-hand items are not energy efficient was not true.

“We want the whole country to understand that items brought into this country for sale go through rigorous checks before being exported from Europe,” he stated.

He said the association is well informed that the sale of second-hand items cut across the world even in some of the advanced countries. 

“So why are these countries also not banning the sale of such items,” he asked, adding that: “Europe is on record to have imported the largest number of second-hand items in the year 2022.”

He appealed to the government to come to the aid of dealers considering the huge number of people who are engaged in this as well as their direct beneficiaries.