The Director-General of Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Prof. Alexander Dodoo, has said that honesty, truth and standards are the ingredients Ghana needs to build a just, solid society and industry not half truths and double- standards.

“Standards are key in every life but deception and lies don’t help our conditions.

“We need standards and not double- standards as individuals and institutions.  We need consistency and reliability. Investment must yield benefits. Leadership  is by example; job creation is not about talking.” Prof. Dodoo stressed.

He made these remarks on Wednesday when he chaired a ceremony in Takoradi at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding  (MOU)  between Design Technology Institute  (DTI) and Takoradi Technical University (TTU) to champion precision quality, standards  and excellence in Ghana’s academia and industry.

The MOU aimed also at equipping young people with precision fabrication skills to boost the competency based learning in technical universities and improve Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Ghana.

Prof. Dodoo again said that enforcement must not be  seen  in  law and order  but  also  in standards stressing “we need to start the transformation now  about quality and precision.”

He noted that, God believed in standards and specifications as captured in Gen 1: 28,  and, therefore, it was about time Ghanaians began to do the right things for right results in trade and commerce.

The precision advocate added that,  providing precision quality  skills for students was a sure way to help them enter the  job market, saying “I feel ashamed  that the right  measurements   are not being used  by industry captains,  because everybody  is cheating.”

Prof Dodoo wondered why dishonest behaviour seemed to be winning over rights in society, although christians and Muslim had faith and beliefs which could promote standards and for leadership to set good examples.

Quality assurance,  he explained,  should be  applied by industry to promote honesty, excellence and accountability.

“Why do we use ‘olonka’  in this country when weighing scales should be the order of the day? The filling stations are no different. The conversation on standards must be on rules and regulations. Consumers must also hold the powers that be accountable to get results,” Prof. Dodoo stressed.

The Western Regional Minister,Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, advocated a change of the mindset to transform academia, technology, innovations,  industry,  work ethics and attitude towards development.

The Chief Executive Officer of DTI, Ms  Constance Elizabeth Swaniker, reiterated that precison quality was the wheel for the transformation of mindset, saying that “TTU is sitting  on gold  mine and ought to take  a step back and reflect  on the new  journey  for  excellence.”

From Clement Adzei Boye, Takoradi