The Ghana Revenue Authority has said that the challenges with the clearance of goods at the ports is as a result of a lack of understanding of the process by importers.
According to the Assistant Commissioner of the GRA, Emmanuel Ohene, users of the country’s ports did not believe in the new system and as such it took a longer time, than usual, for them to learn how to understand the system.
“Let me be the first to admit that the buy-in into the ICUMS was very low at the onset of its “introduction. And so people’s administration of the system came in rather late and so getting acclimatized to the system came in late as well. That resulted in people not appreciating the process flows and the navigation through the system.”
Assistant Commissioner of the GRA, Emmanuel Ohene
Since the full adoption and implementation of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), most importers still complain that they are struggling to clear their goods blaming it on the new systems at the port.
On Tuesday 28th April, 2020, the Commissioner-General of the GRA Reverend Amishadae Owusu-Amoah announced the commencement and deployment of ICUMS at all points of entry into the country with immediate effect.
This was after the system had been gradually implemented in phases at all the ports in the country from 1st March 2020 to 28th April to make importers familiar with its processes.
However, Freight Forwarders in the country have not been very pleased with the introduction of this new structure at the country’s ports.
Addressing an Open Forum at the premises of the Ghana Ports and Habours Authority, Mr John Kweku Mensah, a council member of the Ghana Freight Forwarders Association described the new system as “fraught with delays.”
Because the situation was assuming a political twist, the council member said that, “We are facing a lot of problems, this is not political. This is because we need help.”
He added that, the Association “don’t care about who is operating a system, we just want a system that works normally like the one GCNet was operating. The system must flow for us because all of us are paying huge rent and demurrage even though it is not our fault.”
Mr John Kweku Mensah, a council member of the Ghana Freight Forwarders Association
But, the GRA has praised the new system as it is bringing in a lot of revenue than the previous system. According to data from the Customs Division of the GRA, import duties generated for government reached a high of GHc1.2 billion in the first month of its usage, which was last month, June 2020.
The GRA claimed that, before the switch over to the new platform, its predecessor, the National Single Window System operated by GC Net in partnership with West Blue Consulting, was generating a monthly average amount of GHc940 million.
The data justified why the government was insistent on deploying the system even though a barrage of opposition greeted the system at its onset. ICUMS is operated by South Korea’s CUPEA in collaboration with its local partner, Ghana Link.
Government officials have express excitement with the revenue performance of the system, indicating improvement in revenue collection at the ports despite the negative impact of the COVID 19 on trade volumes. They, therefore, infer that the situation will be far better when the pandemic subsides.
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