ICUMS: There was far more collection of revenue than previously collected under the old system – Prof. Stephen Adei

Professor Stephen Adei, the Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has commended the Integrated Customs Management systems (ICUMS) as a much better alternative.

Speaking in an interview, the Chairman of GRA labelled ICUMS as a much better system in comparison to its predecessor, the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNET).

According to Professor Adei, his assertion is premised on the revenue generated by ICUMS despite reduced imports at Ghana’s land and sea ports due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said, “we are getting better results because in May and June alone, even under Covid-19 there was far more collection of revenue than previously collected under the old system”.

“On average the revenue collected is about GHS 800 million, but just last month we had about GHS 1.2 billion and this is even under reduced imports due to the pandemic. And I’m happy to say that despite Covid-19, our end of May revenue was only 8.6 per cent below the target”.

Professor Stephen Adei

Also, he stated that the surge in revenue collection was as a result of the effectiveness of the ICUMS. In juxtaposing that to the previous system, it is an indication that the country was losing huge revenue in the old system and that the resistance mounted against the introduction of ICUMS was due to fright exhibited by some individual over fears of exposure.

Although he corroborated the challenges being faced by the new system, he iterated that efforts are being undertaken to resolve those challenges and progress is being made.

“We have challenges but they are being resolved and the results so far are promising, we are doing our best for God and country”.

Professor Stephen Adei

ICUMS generated GHc1.2 billion in June

Meanwhile, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has indicated that import duties generated for government in June last month was pegged at GHc1.2 billion. According to the data which emerged from its Custom Division, the figures were churned out the first month since the introduction and usage of the controversial Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) into Ghana.

Comparatively, GRA indicated that prior to the usage of the new system, the National Single Window System operated by GCNet in partnership with West Blue Consulting, was making a monthly average amount of GHc940 million.

Per the new data, government’s firmness in using the new platform seems justified in spite of the brewing dissatisfaction and occasional technical glitches the ports faces, as they invariably affects transactions and causes delays amongst customers clearing of goods.

Quite expectedly, government officials are excited about the revenue performance indicating that it has its sterling performance in the face of the hostile impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on trade volumes.

They also posited that, this further proves the recording of a much better revenue performance once the pandemic eases down.

As the pandemic grates on, public revenue collection has become even more essential for government as the coronavirus has impeded most of its activities, reprioritizing needs to health and social interventions.

While revenue collection data for the sea ports, which are the biggest channels for importation and thus the biggest sources of import duties are not yet available, data for Kotoka International Airport and the land points of entry indicate sharply rising revenues.

For instance import duty revenues from KIA for June, at GHc55.4 million, was up 20 percent over the GHc46 million generated in June 2019, when trade activities were not curtailed by travel and trade restrictions.