Yaw Osafo-Maafo
GOVERNMENT has cleared the air on reports trending that Ghana Links Services Ltd, the company operating the new customs clearing system, popularly known as UNIPASS, has no track record and the required competence to execute the work at hand.
According to the government, the impression created that the UNIPASS technology had not been deployed or tested anywhere in the world before was also not accurate.
A statement issued and signed by the Joint Inter-Ministerial Oversight Committee (JIMOC) under the chairmanship of the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, to oversee the smooth implementation of the new custom management system, made this known.
It said there were records at the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade and Industry which indicated that the government deployed the UNIPASS single window service to address challenges encountered from the previous customs management system to a new end-to-end trade facilitation regime.
It said JIMOC had held several meetings with the various vendors on the transition to the new system.
“The UNIPASS technology has been deployed successfully in Tanzania since 2015 under the name Tancis, which World Customs Organization (WCO) has acclaimed as one of the best innovative trade facilitation systems. Cameroon, like Ghana, has deployed the same technology after successfully developing their system early this year,” it said.
It further pointed out that “in Equador in South America, the system has successfully been deployed since 2010 and it is still operating. The best place to see the efficacy of this UNIPASS customs management technology is in South Korea itself where since 1998 the system has been deployed to successfully manage their complex and far bigger customs operations.”
For a period of one year, staff of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and other relevant stakeholders have received training on the new system. Also, simulation exercises, scalability and stress tests of the new system have been conducted and proven favourable.
Successful implementation
Available records from March 1, 2020 when the project took off indicated that the implementation had been largely successful.
“Government of Ghana has recorded that since March 1, 2020 imports entering the country through a limited number of entry points are being cleared through the new system,” it said.
“For the period, 57 freight forwarders who do business at the selected entry points have all been successfully enrolled and are clearing goods through the new UNIPASS system,” it revealed.
The new system is currently owned by government and does not require any foreign shareholder as compared to the previous system.
“There will be cost saving because of the single window system with an end-to-end trade facilitation system; it will improve the security of cross-border movement of persons and wholesome goods; facilitate trade across our borders; provide customs revenue assurances; and achieve better and more accurate audit trail for all goods crossing our borders for both economic and security management.”
BY Daniel Bampoe