The Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism has held its second stakeholders’ engagement to offer a platform for organizations involved in the paperless clearance process at the country’s ports to brief the committee on how they have implemented the paperless policy so far.
Ato Panford, Vice Chairman of the Select Committee, said: “We believe it is about time for us to take stock to inform ourselves, to know what the challenges are, and the possible suggestions to rectify any challenges therein so that we can continue to have a successful policy program.”
The operation of a paperless port process commenced on 1st September, 2017.
At the meeting, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) admitted that there have been some challenges associated with the Joint Inspections at the Ports. “That facility is not working well. What it is supposed to do is to allow the trader to schedule examination and inform first, the custom officers, secondly, the terminal operator, thirdly, any other regulatory agencies like Food and Drugs Authority that one is ready for examination at this time and place and therefore inviting you. Sometimes the information doesn’t flow through.
However, the Commissioner of Customs, Isaac Crentsil asserted that the paperless system – since its implementation – has sealed some revenue leakages.
“When the paperless project came in, so many of these weaknesses were sealed because with respect to compliance we thought it was very important that we move the compliance out of the face of our other stakeholders because so many things were happening at that level. So the first place to move them to is the Customs Headquarters in Accra to prevent them from influencing or manipulating our officers,” he said.
Carl Sackey, Product Development Manager, Ghana Community Network Services (GCNet), also outlined some challenges they have identified.
“There are many other agencies also operating, therefore, once the clearance release has been done, they also stop the agents and ask for stamped entries to show that the consignment has been released,” Carl Sackey shared.
He said GCNet is working with other stakeholders to ensure that challenges in the clearance process are addressed.
