By Shine Esi Kwawukumey, GNA
Accra, Oct. 21, GNA – The Ghana Publishing Company Limited (GPCL) has introduced online ordering of printed laws and digital verification of official gazettes to improve access to authentic government publications.
The services include an online bookstore and daily online access to the Ghana Gazette, allowing customers to obtain official documents without travelling to Accra.
Nana Kwasi Boatey, Managing Director of GPCL, announced the measures at a press conference in Accra.
He said the move would reduce costs and improve access to official publications nationwide.
“Today in particular I want you to inform our fellow Ghanaians that if you need an Act of Ghana or anything that is sold at the business centre here at Ghana Publishing, you can go online, you can buy it, and within a very short time we can courier it to you.
“You don’t have to come here and inconvenience yourself,” he said.
The online bookstore would allow customers to order printed copies of Acts of Parliament, the Constitution and other publications, pay electronically and receive their purchases by courier.
Mr Boatey said the service would benefit customers outside Accra who otherwise incurred significant travel costs to obtain legal documents.
“For an Act that cost fifty cedis, you may have to commute for a cost of two hundred, three hundred cedis to be able to come here and buy it,” he said.
Mr Boatey said orders could be delivered to Tamale, Bawku, Wa, Walewale and other locations within a day or two.
“We’re not talking about soft copies, we’re talking about hard copies,” he said.
Mr Boatey said the digital services would also help curb the circulation of unauthorised laws and fake gazettes.
“A lot of people have taken opportunity of a lack of presence everywhere to create fake versions of the Acts of Ghana which is illegal and if we get you we’ll catch you,” he said.
The online verification service allows users to check a gazette’s authenticity without visiting GPCL’s offices.
“Now when you get a gazette, you can go online and verify whether it’s authentic, again without coming here,” he said.
The daily online gazette is also expected to improve access to official notices and clarify publication dates in cases where they are disputed.
“That way there are no disputes about what was published today and what was published yesterday,” Mr Boatey said.
“If it is online it’s online you can’t go and remove it,” he added.
Mr Boatey said the initiatives formed part of efforts to improve service delivery and make the company’s publications more accessible.
He said the measures aligned with the Government’s Reset Agenda.
“All of this is again, as I have indicated, to ensure that the services that we provide here are regularly available to Ghanaians, that the experience is better,” he said.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth sackey