Exporters decry unapproved charges
Exporters have criticised the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) for failing to create an enabling environment that will propel the growth of non-traditional exports (NTEs) from the country.
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They mentioned the levying of unapproved charges at exit points and request for certificates by some state agencies as some of the challenges the GEPA had failed to address.
These challenges, they said, had led to a reduction in export earnings into the economy over the last two decades.
The concerns were raised by participants in a retreat organised by the GEPA on June 24 this year at Peduasi in the Eastern Region.
A participant, Ms Gloria Yeboah, who has several years of export experience, said the illegal duties paid at the borders was inhibiting intra-Africa trade.
She recalled that until 2002, GEPA helped exporters to export their artefacts but since the authority stopped doing that “our fortune has been dwindling.”
She accused officials of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) of illegally slapping charges on export consignments without issuing them receipt.
In response, the GEPA welcomed the concerns but asked all relevant agencies to desist from imposing charges at exit points.
Hold agencies accountable
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Carlos Ahenkora, charged the GEPA to undertake its mandate as an authority over exports in Ghana.
“If you say you are an authority, then you need to prove it by ensuring that various challenges accounting for the country’s dwindling fortunes from NTEs are addressed.
“If I export, I expect the country of destination to tell me whether I am in tune with the rules or not, but if you sit at the country of origin and tell me I am in compliant, impose charges on me and then I go and my goods are destroyed, I think you need to be held accountable,” he added.
Mr Ahenkora urged players in the export trade business to hold the various inspection agencies accountable should their goods get destroyed at the country of destination.
“If the GEPA says it is not going to charge any fee on exports, I do not see why the other agencies will go ahead and impose something like a tax on exports,” he said.
“We believe that if all these agencies are captured on a single platform, the bottlenecks will reduce drastically,” he said and added that the challenge had been that most of these agencies had been captured on the single widow but still wanted to charge and take physical cash.
The minister said the government would not allow inspection agencies to become a hindrance to the country’s export dreams.
Response
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GEPA, Ms Gifty Klenam, in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS, said the authority was putting deliberate measures in place to change the country’s export fortunes.
She observed that the GEPA was now clothing itself with its core mandate of ensuring that Ghana’s export trade contributed to accelerate economic growth through a strategic aggressive marketing of Made-in-Ghana products in the competitive global economy.
Consequently, she asked all the various agencies to concentrate on their core mandate and leave exporters alone to operate.
She also sent a strong warning to all agencies that imposes charges at the export point of exits to desist from such action, because it was serving as a disincentive to exports.—GB