Story by Dominic Hlordzi.
Ghana Link Network Services, operators of the Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS), will soon roll out Phase Two of its platform services to the ports community and its stakeholders.
Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Link, Clyde Panyi Adjei announced this at a workshop for members of the Ports Journalists Network, (PJN) in Accra.
He said Phase Two will involve the inclusion of additional features that will enhance the system and offer a better experience to users of the platform.
“We are continuously improving the system for it to become the best port clearance system in Africa in the area of trade facilitation and most importantly help in revenue mobilisation in the interest of Ghana,” the Deputy MD stated.
The upgrade of the existing platform will ensure that the needs of all stakeholders are met while matching up to international standards and best practices.
When fully integrated the Phase Two will have new features such as:
- Authorized Economic Operators
- Advance Passenger Information System (APIS)
- Post Clearance Audit (PCA)
- E-Wallet
- Simplified Clearance/Postal
- Investigations
- Customs Laboratory Activities
- Duty Drawback
- Re – Scheduling
- Performance Management
- State Warehouse Mgt.
- Surveillance
- E-Auction
The implementation of Phase One was fraught with some mixed reactions from stakeholders.
The mixed reactions Ghana Links believes were due to misinformation and lack of understanding of the yet to be rolled out platform.
The Deputy MD said though the misinformation resulted in delays in implementation because of “a push back from stakeholders like freight forwarding community, with hard work and various interventions the company was successful in getting all key stakeholders to come on board”.
According to Mr. Adjei, testimonies abound about the performance of ICUMS in helping to ramp up revenue for the government.
Tax evasion, under declaration and other illegal activities which characterised previous systems have been addressed with the introduction of ICUMS leading to increased revenue to the state.
The training was to deepen the journalists’ understanding on the processes, modules and various activities that make ICUMS an end-to-end system.
“We have decided to enhance your capacity to fully appreciate and embrace the system to help in effective and responsive reporting about ICUMS to the public,” Mr. Adjei explains.
Team Lead of PJN, Mr Elvis Darko, noted that the economy revolves round trade which is anchored on ports and maritime operations.
He emphasized that the ports remain the single largest revenue generator for the country and, therefore, deserves all the needed attention.
To this end, he said policing what happens at the revenue generating sectors like the ports must be the job of all journalists, stressing the need for the media to make issues of the ports and maritime sectors topical to help address the challenges facing the industry to propel economic growth.
Mr. Darko said PJN will continue to seek opportunities for members to be empowered to write expertly in the sector to engender the needed change and progress in the ports and maritime industry.
Ghana Link Network Services is a Ghanaian owned company established in 2001.
It was originally into the business of Destination Inspection from 2003 to 2015.
In September 2015, Ghana Link got a contract to run External Price Verification program for GRA – Customs and in 2018, the Government of Ghana contracted the company to set up a single system to facilitate the generation of revenue and address some bottlenecks associated with clearing at the ports.
The UNIPASS-Ghana Project (ICUM) is the Government of Ghana’s (GoG) decision to engage a single service provider to develop and implement an end-to-end automated customs operational and management system.
The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Other Government Agencies (OGAs) and relevant private stakeholders involved in cross-border trade are the primary users of the system.