Freight forwarders last Thursday protested against the excessive delays in clearing their goods blaming it on the systems breakdown at the ports.

Hundreds of angry Freight Forwarders thronged the Longroom of the Tema Port over to protest the delays in the system.

[contextly_sidebar id=”9N3gAFzyv7IbfVy9BNMgByYuryoMZJ3X”]The Customs over the weekend also issued a temporary measure to guide the affected agents to clear their goods.

Speaking to Citi Business News on the development, the Commissioner for the Customs Division of the GRA, Isaac Crentsil explained his outfit has addressed the challenges.

He was however hopeful that all goods would be cleared by close of day today [Monday].

“We cleared a lot over the weekend. We are hoping that by today [Monday] all would have been cleared. The officials at the Tema port are also around releasing containers. So everyone is working to address last Thursday’s challenges,” he added.

GRA workers clear goods over weekend

Mr. Crentsil last Friday conceded that his staff were overwhelmed with the documents that came through the compliance unit hence the delay in the paperless process which was supposed to last four hours instead of two weeks as had been the case previously.

He also assured that the hitches will be sorted out before Monday.

“What happened was that what coming to the compliance office was more than the staff. So there was so much pile of work. So throughout the night…we are seriously working on it to clear the backlog. Hopefully by Monday, things will normalize. The work has doubled. In the manual system, one officer was doing about maybe ten a day but now they are doing about 20 which means the work there has doubled and that overwhelmed the staff over there.  But now we have called so many officers into the compliance unit and they have been working from Friday, Saturday and then possible Sunday to clear everything,” he said on Eyewitness News last Friday.

–

By: Godwin A. Allotey & Anita Arthur/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Paperless system backlog cleared – GRA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Government began the implementation of the paperless clearing system last Saturday to speed up the process of clearing goods, and ensure order at the port, whiles blocking loopholes.

But barely a week after the project commenced, the agitated freight forwarders complained that the paperless process is slowing down their work.

The freight forwarders before the implementation complained that they were not educated on the processes involved, and had called on government to suspend it.

Some of the freight forwarders who spoke to Citi News‘ Elvis Washington said although they were promised that they would spend only four hours going through the paperless system, they are currently stranded.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng, who went to the place to calm them down was reportedly booed.

“They told us that they were bringing a paperless process, but the education didn’t go down well. Now have sent our declarations and we have not yet received any response. So what do they mean when they say we will be able to clear our goods within four hours? We think they have to suspend the system and educate us well,” an angry freight forwarder said.

Another one said: I’m very unhappy because after making my payment since Monday, I was promised that compliance would be done through the system, I’m yet to receive it, and I can’t do anything.”

“As for the paperless, I think it is a good deal, but we need better education. If we who are supposed to work with the system and we don’t understand and know what is going on, then what is the need for the paperless?,” she asked.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Confusion at Tema Port over paperless system [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.