Frustrated importers and clearing agents were seen pushing clenched fists skywards and wagging their forefingers in anger last Thursday at the Takoradi Ports as they called on government to immediately suspend the newly introduced Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS trade facilitation system that has caused revenue losses for government and disrupted trade facilitation.

The freight forwarders all wore red head bands and used strong words in expressing their frustration with the UNIPASS system that has been imposed on them although it has had their work more difficult and messed them up completely in many instances.

They told journalists that the challenges with the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS system is getting worse since it was introduced to the Takoradi Ports on April 1 and it makes no sense whatsoever that such an incompetent system has been made to replace a tried and tested system that was doing very well and made Ghana the pride of the sub region in the areas of trade facilitation and the ease of doing business.

This is not the first-time relevant stakeholders are publicly registering their frustrations with the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS platform forced on them by a directive from the office of Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo

The freight forwarders said they were thankful that the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS was stopped at the Tema Ports because it was not functioning and halted trading activities for two days, but they are shocked that the same incompetent the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS system has been allowed to remain at the Takoradi Ports despite the numerous challenges it was creating for importers and clearing agents.

Already the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF) has compiled some of the inherent problems with the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS and submitted to government but nothing has been done about it and the incompetence keeps getting worse.

“It has been observed that the myriad of problems facing declarants are mostly due to the lack of proper mapping of the process flow, inadequate training of declarants and unresolved systemic issues. These have all culminated in serious delays leading to untold hardship. Demurrage and rent payments have become the norm with no respite in sight. Quality assurance is key to repose confidence in the new system.

"These are not normal times, the scourge of COVID-19 presents a clear and present danger to us in view of the very predictable massing up of our compatriots in search for solutions. We have seen this happen; the state will have to tarry awhile in the implementation to get all the fundamentals right. An attempt to introduce this in busier ports like KIA and Tema would be disastrous to say the least”, GIFF made known to government at end of April that the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS was simply a disaster in wait.

GIFF explained that under the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS system, “Declaration is back and forth and not a step by step process. Post entries are a nightmare. Interestingly this pushes the declarants to proceed physically to the operations center at the Grand Favour Hotel in Takoradi.

“One major issue identified is that of valuation. This is a serious matter which we found ran across board. The original instruction was to upload evidence of valuation done prior to 1st April 2020 when creating the Bill of Entry (BOE). It is strange however that most of these values were ignored and revised mostly downwards even to the chagrin of the declarants who feel this was an anomaly and constituted huge loss of revenue to the state but could do nothing about it! A situation can actually be confirmed where the declarant remarked in the system that value had been revised lower than the original CCVR but the appeal process itself is taking days so who would want to bother?

“There was another specific situation where a vehicle/personal effects valuation showed a GHS1000 upward adjustment in the value of the car and a GHS2500 downward adjustment in the values of the cargo albeit the original CCVR created by the same customs had been attached for guidance. Some values already affected by the 50% reduction policy have still been revised downwards leading to ridiculously low duties. Vehicle valuation has always been standard by virtue of our unique system of valuation but several cases are replete with variations in values. This is a huge problem and will have a serious effect on revenue collection.

“An interesting issue is that of duty difference popping up when assessed duty had already been paid. A few instances were observed ranging from GHS10, GHS70 and GHS174. The deduction is that although duty had been paid, declarations that had not been fully processed through to the following week became affected by the exchange rate of the new week. A case in point was when an aggrieved agent refused to accept this situation and had the difference in duty occasioned by this system flaw literally handed to him by one of the Korean technical expatriates. This is clearly unacceptable since duty had already been locked in place.

“Delays in uploading of manifest onto the system was and still is an issue. It can be confirmed that not a single cargo had been cleared as on 24th April from a Grimaldi Vessel that arrived last weekend. Since no declaration can be done and manifest matched if it is not uploaded on time is a major flaw and bound to cause all the delays that we are witnessing.”