More than 200 freight forwarders and importers on Monday, besieged the long room of the Tema Port to press home their demand for the suspension of the Cargo Tracking Note. According to them, they’ll strike for the next three days expecting the government to heed to their call.
When Radio Ghana got to the scene, the strike which should have been a sit down one saw the leadership of the Joint Committee of Freight Forwarders and some members clad in red bands around the wrist and arm.
Meanwhile, the Tema Sector Commander at the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Dr. Godfred Okoh-Appiah has appealed to the aggrieved joint committee of Freight Forwarder Associations in Tema to return to work as the Management of the Customs Division at the Tema Port take up the concerns on the introduction of the Cargo Tracking Note, CTN.
According to Dr. Okoh-Appiah, upon seeing the freight forwarders gather at the forecourt of the Long room today, he visited the various terminals to have first-hand information on the impact of the strike. He said the manner with which some importers were stranded at the Port is appalling and assured the agitating forwarders that they will ensure that sanity prevails.
The President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Kwabena Ofosu-Appiah said much as they are against the implementation of the CTN with no malice, they are worried at the bureaucracy that the CTN will bring should it be implemented.
Story by Edith Atiaka Eshun
