ries

The havoc being caused by the Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) on the country’s economy has now taken another twist as majority of Ghanaians are calling on the Mills administration to intervene and scrap them off from the import scene.

The public were of the view that the Minister of Trade had failed the nation so far as the issue of the DICs were concerned, taking into consideration the refusal of the ministry to release their report that came out of a forum held last year to determine the handing over of the valuation and classification duties at the ports to the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).

A survey conducted by The New Palaver newspaper on the current brouhaha in respect of the large billions of cedis the DIC had denied the nation, those interviewed were of the view that the Ministry of Trade and Industries has a lot of questions to answer to Ghanaians. According to them, the DICs were colluding with importers to submit false import papers, under voicing those documents and paying less tax to government with the extra monies going into private pockets.

They alleged that these DICs had been ‘migrating’ figures at the ports to dupe the government and wondered why the software that was developed for CEPS to help in tracking down these saboteurs had been rejected for the software of a private company. This, they stressed, cannot be allowed to continue and asked the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to weed out those ministers thwarting the economic development efforts of the government.

They said they were not happy at how Hon. Tetteh was handling the issue of the DICs and should not allowed herself to be forced into action as it happened to the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice, Hon. Betty Mould Iddrisu.

The present four Destination Inspection Companies in the country are the Gateway Services Limited (GSL), Ghana Link Network Services, now the Ghana Customs Inspection Company, the Inspection Control Services (ICS) and BIVAC, which had recorded huge shortfalls in revenue from the two seaports of Tema and Takoradi and therefore one wonders what will be happening at the Kotoka International Airport.

The New Palaver newspaper sources at the Castle has hinted that heated argument ensued between officials of the Ministry of Trade with the DICs on the side and the Finance Ministry at a meeting with the President as to who was sabotaging the national economy last Friday. In the end, the President had ordered that Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) should go ahead with destination inspection duties and report the outcome to him after three months time. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian public demands that the Minister of Trade and industries, Ms. Hannah Tetteh should be removed from office immediately.