By Inusa Musah
Richard Patrick Yawutse, acting Deputy Commissioner in charge of Policy and Programmes, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), says, from September 1, 2017, the paperless port process at the sea ports will increase the life of Customs personnel.
He announced that the Customs Division of the GRA has lost 30 personnel, whose ages ranged between 31 and 45 years, due to stress and working beyond their limits.
Mr Yawutse, based on this background, assured the personnel of Customs that the introduction of the paperless port process would not retrench staff of the division.
Richard Patrick Yawutse disclosed this yesterday, at a media briefing on the paperless port process in Accra, where he had his turn to simplify the workings of the paperless trade process at the Tema and Takoradi ports, from September 1, this year.
He said: “The paperless port process is rather going to help us recruit more hands, in order to save the lives of our limited hands of personnel.”
The paperless port process, Mr Yawutse simplified, would see traders paying their charges electronically, saying that all systems have been synchronised for the new trade that would see only non-compliant traders experiencing delays in the delivery of services to them.
In his earlier remarks, Isaac Crentsil, Customs Commissioner, GRA, explained that the strong political will by the government makes the paperless port process feasible.
In addition to that, he said the technical expertise and all logistics for the take off of the process are ready.
Expressing his outfit’s readiness to fully implement the policy, which was piloted at the Takoradi Port in 2013, after strong resistance by industry players in 2012, Mr Crentsil said: “The paperless process will remove all bottlenecks our customers face in the clearing of their goods at the ports.
“It will, further, reduce turnaround time, which is the best international best practice.”
Emmanuel Kofi Nti, GRA Commissioner-General, on his part, explained that the paperless trade system is aimed at bringing transparency and simplification, abolishing exploitation, reducing delays, and eliminating bureaucracy.
In view of this, Mr Nti noted that the paperless process would not only maximise state revenue, but the GRA would be able to account for revenue and protect it.
“Systems re-engineering are ready, and since this process will bring us efficiency, we hope to implement it at our various airports in future.”
To bring the curtain down on his delivery, the GRA Commissioner-General said: “This is a monumental structural development, and it is a modernisation process that started in 2009.
“The time has now matured for us to take off, and come September 1, we are going paperless to reduce, if not eliminate, corruption at our sea ports.”
By Inusa Musah Richard Patrick Yawutse, acting Deputy Commissioner in charge of Policy and Programmes, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), says, from September 1, 2017, the paperless port process at the sea ports will increase the life of Customs personnel. He announced that the Customs Division of the GRA has lost 30 […] Read Full Story
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