The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has emphasized that it has rectified all challenges with the clearing of goods processed ahead of the start of the paperless system at the ports.
Freight forwarders last Thursday, September 7, 2017 protested against the excessive delays in clearing their goods.
They blamed the development on the systems breakdown at the ports.
The Customs on Saturday, September 9, 2017 also issued a temporary measure to guide the clearing of such affected goods.
The intervention was among others to ease the apprehension at the ports.
Though he wouldn’t confirm the volume of goods that were affected, the Commissioner of Customs, Isaac Crentsil explained to Citi Business News his outfit had rectified all system challenges as at yesterday.
“You know on Thursday there was backlog of declarations which we were hoping to clear by Monday, September 11th, so we the members of the technical team put our heads together. So we came out with a memorandum in which we stated that some temporary measures to clear goods declared before the implementation of the port efficiency project but shortly after the memorandum was issued the technical team was able to resolve the issues with the system”
He added, “So now all goods declared before 1st September will go through the old system and those declared after 1st September they will go through the new system”.
He however expressed optimism that all goods will be cleared by close of day today, Monday, September 11, 2017.
“Everything is now okay, I am here at the customs office and can tell you that everything is now okay. Even yesterday we worked hard to make sure we cleared a lot, today we are still clearing and we are hopeful that by Monday, everything would have been cleared so everybody is working hard to address the challenges encountered on Thursday”.
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By: Anita Arthur/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana