The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana have called on Customs and its IT Service Providers to take necessary steps to cut down on the many down times experienced by their members as port business begins in the New Year.
The body, through a press release issued by its Executive Secretary, Sampson Awingobit Asaki, says it “will have zero tolerance for such situations”.
We are therefore reminding Customs and their I.T solution providers hitherto GCNET and WestBlue that System downtimes and its resultant delays, impact negatively on Importers and Exporters and for an election Year, we will have ZERO TOLERANCE for such situations, the statement said in part.
Below is a full statement from the Association:
As we begin a new year with many resolutions in regards to seeing the maritime trade improving, the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana wishes to assure its Members, the Business and General Trading Public that though this year 2020 is an election year, they should continue in hope and keep their businesses and trade portfolios active.
Ghana has seen many peaceful and largely incident-free elections, and the 2020 Election will be no exception.
However, we would like to take this opportunity to admonish Customs, GCNET, WESTBLUE and/or UNIPASS and all Trade Facilitation Partners to provide Importers and Exporters with robust systems to effectively and efficiently expedite their cargo clearance at the ports.
It is our hope and prayer that issues such as the prolonged system downtimes, which was experienced from 27th to 31st December 2019, on the Pre-Arrival Assessment and Reporting System (PAARS) managed by WESTBLUE, and resulted in non-processing of not a single CCVR at some collection centers, will be a thing of the past.
We are therefore reminding Customs and their I.T solution providers hitherto GCNET and WestBlue that System downtimes and its resultant delays, impact negatively on Importers and Exporters and for an election Year, we will have ZERO TOLERANCE for such situations.
On this note, the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana wishes its Members, Stakeholders and the General Trading Community a Safe, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
Signed,
Sampson Awingobit Asaki
Executive Secretary, Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana