Fifty out of the targeted 150 shipping companies and agencies at the Tema Port have so far been linked to the Ghana Community Network (GCNet) Systems to ensure rapid and efficient clearance procedures at the port.

The system, comprising the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS) and the Ghana Trade net, is geared at providing an electronic interchange platform for users to transmit declarations and receive relevant responses from agencies involved in clearance procedures. The Commissioner of Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Brigadier R.E. Baiden, who made this known at a press briefing on Tuesday on the implementation progress in Tema, said a number of declarants have not been connected to the system because they do not have the requisite hardware.

Brig. Baiden explained that operational results have been very impressive, following the successful implementation of GCNet at the Kotoka International Airport. According to him, out of a total of 9,593 declarations that were validated by the system at KIA during the first quarter, nearly half of them were released from CEPS within two hours. He noted that the introduction of the system has plugged a number of revenue leakages such as the mis-declaration and the making of false post entries, to smuggle consignments from ports.

In line with this, the commissioner has called on shipping companies and their agents to ensure that their manifests declarations into the system are accurate in order to avoid delays to the clearance of goods. He said if these companies are able to make accurate declarations in the more advanced economies they operate in, they should bring the same standards to bear on their operations in Ghana. The CEPS commissioner said the service is determined to use the new system effectively and therefore cautioned compliance and examination officers, to be diligent and report all findings, since the system’s audit trail may, sooner than later, churn up any inappropriate action taken by them.

He therefore challenged officials of CEPS to adopt new work ethics, adding that the introduction of the system in Tema is part of efforts being made to provide faster and efficient clearance procedures under Ghana’s Gateway project. The Executive Chairman of (GCnet), Mr Nortey K. Omaboe, also advised Ghanaians to desist from pressurising authorities in government, to grant them tax exemptions from goods brought in by them. He said the introduction of the automated system at the ports will produce optimal returns for all, if Ghanaians make concerted efforts to comply with existing regulations instead of trying to circumvent them.

Mr Omaboe therefore appealed to all traders to avoid under-invoicing, mis-declaration, mis-classification and all other practices which have hitherto hampered the free-flow of trade.