Transit reforms initiated by Government of Ghana to streamline activities in the import and transit sector have attracted applause from the World Bank Group. These reforms, which it believes were a huge success, the World Bank Group has also recommended for replication by other ECOWAS members.

In the Investment Climate in Practice document prepared by the the Trade and Logistic Team of the World Bank Group’s 2010 Investment Advisory Services in April, The World Bank came out that Ghana’s Transit reforms had streamlined and modernized the country’s Customs and Transit systems

It said the spread of Ghana’s transit reforms also showed that reforms in one country could create a foundation for more widespread regional reforms. “Though Ghana’s progress on its national transit system has not come easily, the main elements of its transit reforms can be reproduced in countries where there is the necessary political will to overcome the resistance to change,” the document stated.

The document, among whose editors, was Luc De Wulf a macro economist, identified the key reforms of the nation’s transit system as: a Sealing System, Payment Guarantees, Authorisation of Operators, Documentation System, and Electronic Tracking System. According to the document, Customs had replaced the old mobile control units which brought in complaints of harassments with a transponders system to track transit vehicles between Tema (Ghana’s larger port city) and Paga, the border with Burkina Faso, in real time.

This system operated by Ghana Community Network (GCNet) charges a fee equivalent to what Customs used to charge each transit vehicle for escort. (GCNet also operates Ghana’s single window for goods declaration).

“Besides, cameras installed at Ghana’s territorial entry and exit points, as well as inland transit check points, verify the integrity of transit vehicles,” the document revealed.

It said in 2007 Ghana introduced a new system for sealing trucks after consulting with domestic truckers as well as the authorities and truck operators of neighbouring landlocked countries.

“Each container is sealed with a conventional lock eliminating the need for technologically sophisticated techniques, while non-containerised trucks are sealed with tarpaulins held with nylon straps attached to metal rings on the body of the truck-a low tech system that has proven to be highly reliable,” World Bank observed.

In the past transit shipment were sealed by customs to prevent goods from being removed or added to trucks. Only containers were sealed in Ghana, while non-containerised trucks which accounted for 85% of shipments had to travel in convoy, escorted by customs officers.

While in the past also transit guarantees had been granted by several agencies, since 2006 the SIC Insurance Company was granted the monopoly, having been hooked to the Customs Management System (CMS) to grant transit guarantees. With this reform also came the changing of the guarantee fee of 0.5% which used to be on the value of the cargo to 0.5 % fee of the taxes and duties at risk. According to the World Bank document, while the government used a lot of strategic thinking, bearing in mind the political implications and social ramifications, to appoint a selected owners and their vehicles to operate in the transit system, an electronic documentation system was introduced to replace the manual system which was seen to be so labourious.

In the past, it said, “documents issued by customs authorities at the origin of transit shipment should be verified by customs posts in each transit country permitting the timely lifting of the guarantee bond attached to the shipment.” However, the transit module of the new customs management system, the World Bank Group has observed “connects Paga border crossing to Tema, and by February 2007 all external border posts with transit journeys originating in Tema were electronically connected to the customs management system.

In a related development,the International Monetary Fund,(IMF) has selected GCNet as their technical partner in a trade facilitation assistance being extended to Ghana’s import and export processing sector.

The $2.5 million assistance would see GCNet administering trade facilitation to beneficiary Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the import and export sector.

Among other activities under the programme, the World Bank would like to help these MDAs automate so that people could have remote access to processing documents.

Source: Financial Intelligence(www.fighana.com) Justice Adoboe