President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Mr. Kwabena Ofosu-Appiah, has lauded government’s decisions to cede customs brokerage to Ghanaian local businesses.
According to Mr. Ofosu-Appiah in an interview with the M&TD, that singular decision by government will “reap immense dividends for the economy” as it will help boost the capacity of locals in the customs brokerage business to grow the industry and contribute meaningfully to national development.
Government’s decision to enact section 43 of Act 891 of the customs Act, 2015 to place the business of customs brokerage in the hands of locals in the shipping industry is a laudable move that places freight forwarders in a better position to support national socio-economic growth.
Section 43 of Act 891 exclusively puts the business of customs brokerage in the hands of indigenous Ghanaians, but the lack of enforcement has seen several malpractices in the business that ended up out-muscling the Ghanaian industry player.
According to the GIFF president, “there are certain practices going on in the industry where people, mostly foreigners businesses, give juicy offers to clients in a manner that depicts elements of anti-trust, transfer pricing, cross subsidization and breeding ground for monopolies setting in cabal style”
The GIFF boss indicated that moving forward, ceding customs brokerage to Ghanaians is the best practice security wise in the wake of terrorism and its related threats, as is being done in the United States and elsewhere.
“freight forwarders are the first people to get access to stuff coming into the country and the fact that Ghanaians are taking charge of those consignments as and when they arrive in the country delivers a certain security” he expressed.
He further stated that “we need to break the cycle wherein goods come to the port and foreign firms want to intervene in the clearance process and haul the consignment with their trucks to destinations with no local participation in the process and that is why the regulation comes in handy”
Customs brokerage is a profession that involves the clearing of goods through customs barriers for importers and exporters. This business involves the preparation of documents and or electronic submissions, the calculation and payments of taxes, duties and excises and facilitating communication between government authority’s shippers.
In Ghana, to become a customs broker, one has to belong to one of three institutions, namely; GIFF, Customs Brokers Association of Ghana (CUBAG) or the Freight Forwarders Association of Ghana (FFAG). The Customs division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is responsible for the licencing and its renewal of brokers.
By David Acquah
