Government pressured to postpone paperless transaction
Shippers have begun mounting pressure on the government to delay the full implementation of the paperless processing of customs clearance at the ports to at least February 2018.
Advertisement
The pressure comes barely 10 days to the September 1, 2017 deadline set by the government to make all transactions at the ports paperless.
Following the directive, agencies at the ports have on Friday (August 18) initiated the pilot phase of the paperless system to test the process ahead of the deadline.
But the shippers have expressed dismay towards that directive, saying the various agencies at the ports have not prepared enough for the full implementation of the paperless transaction.
The shippers registered their resentment against the new system yet to take effect at a forum on ports clearance by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) on Thursday, August 17 in Accra.
The Executive Secretary of Importers and Exporters Association (IEA), Mr Samson Awingobit Asaaki, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS after the forum that instead of the September deadline, the government must take gradual approach to fully implement the paperless clearance process.
“Though we do not want to preempt that agencies at the ports are not fully ready for the September deadline,” he said shippers had not been properly sensitised about the new system.
He explained that adopting gradual approach towards the implementation of the new clearance system was crucial to help ensure that all the challenges and bottlenecks were effectively addressed.
“But one can read clearly from the responces I got from the Customs Deputy Commissioner, Mr Richard Yawutse at the event that the country had not entirely prepared towards the September deadline,” he said.
Embrace paperless clearance process
The President of Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Barima Ofori Ameyaw, urge shippers to help the implementation of the paperless clearance process to reduce corruption at the ports.
“For us as GUTA, we welcome the implementation of a full paperless clearing process but we urged all agencies to collaborate among themselves to remove all the bottlenecks that will emanate from the implementation of the new system,” he said.
“Because the ports in Ghana were not presently attractive within the West African sub-region, we are losing all our businesses to neighbouring countries,” he added.
The Vice-President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia directed the removal of all customs road barriers effective September 1 this year as part of three major policy initiatives to help boost trade and make the ports more competitive in the West African sub-region.
The others are mandatory joint inspection of goods at the ports by all concerned agencies and the ports going paperless.
Expectations
However, shippers from September 1, 2017, expects cargo to be cleared from the seaport within four hours, a smooth transition from manual processing to automated processing and a 100 per cent automation and harmonisation of processes between stakeholding agencies that matter.
They also expects removal of all bottlenecks at the ports, minimal interaction with personnel shipper is compliant and implementation of paperless process be done at both seaports in the country.
Response
A Deputy Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr Richard Yawutse told the paper after the event that the platform for the paperless clearing process had already been provided by the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) and West Blue Consulting.
“This platform is expected to provide connectivity between the concerned agencies at the ports to ensure smooth operations of the paperless transactions,” he said.
He stressed that all stakeholders have been engaged about the development at the ports following the government’s directive to ensure 100 per cent paperless transaction at the ports.
“If you take all of these preparations into consideration then we should be able to begin the implementation of the programme in September as directed by the Vice- President,” he said.
He observed that the pilot phase of the project had been initiated to help stakeholders within the industry get a fair idea of what exactly to expect when the full implementation begins.
“The pilot phase of the paperless project will also help implementers to identify challenges that had not been anticipated in order to address it,” he added. — GB