Accra, Nov. 28, GNA - British American Tobacco (BAT) on Wednesday donated 12 jungle motorbikes to the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to build its capacity to combat illicit trade in tobacco. The donation is part of the implementation process of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed last year between the BAT and CEPS under which the cigarette manufacturing company pledged to build the capacity of CEPS to reduce or eliminate the booming trade of illicit tobacco products in Ghana.

Smuggling of illicit tobacco products costs government approximately 45 billion cedis per annum in revenue. Thus the MOU advocates equal roles and a common purpose for the two bodies to provide each other with information and training to stamp out smuggling and counterfeiting of the product of BAT on the Ghanaian market.

Mr Don Ayao Dussey, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Manager, West and Central Africa of BAT, who made the presentation to CEPS, said the occasion reinforced the partnership between both institutions. He said BAT was committed to setting high standards by helping to improve the capacity of its partners to eliminate illicit trade activities.

He said illicit trade seriously undermined the efforts of genuine entrepreneurs aiming to build a sustainable future for the economy, adding that such challenge demanded appropriate reaction. Dussey expressed delight that illicit trade of tobacco products had significantly reduced from 12 per cent in 2004 to less than six per cent this year, attributing it to the close collaboration between both institutions and through education and preventive campaigns spearheaded by CEPS.

BAT, he said, recognised the role of CEPS and expressed the hope that the motorbikes would boost efforts to have better control of the borders.

"We shall continue to support these efforts in future", he said. Mr Emmanuel Doku, CEPS Commissioner, thanked the BAT for the gesture, saying, "this would definitely improve our work and we hope to see more fruitful collaborations in future".