Digital Reach

need to provide facilitation money. Representatives of the ship-

ping owners and agents as well as freight forwarders have to

produce fewer documents, and gain quicker vessel turnaround

time in the process. The Treasury also benefits from higher

revenues and from faster access to tax payments.

Lessons learned

Private/public sector partnerships can work to bridge the digital divide

– GCNet anchored the reforms and ensured continuity and focus

during a period of political transition, and when no other local

organization had the wherewithal to effect such a drastic trans-

formation of trade and customs procedures. The BOO solution

to trade facilitation is exceptional. It has been tried only in a few

countries, amongst which are Singapore, Mauritius and Tunisia

where its ‘community-owned’ concept found high acceptance.

Information technology can yield quick results

– It took only from

early 2001 to mid 2003 to roll out GCNet and GCMS in ports

that account for more than 90 per cent of all Ghana’s trade.

Clearance times and revenue performance exceeded expectations

during this short period.

Hands-on technical support can speed up operations

– Whereas

customs had struggled for years to upgrade its information system

or to make the best use of it, the reform required an outside push

and hands-on implementation support to force the process

simplification required and the adoption of advanced ICT

processes.

Top-level support greatly helps

– Initially, the project benefited

from top-level MOTI support, which was seen to bring with it

the support of the whole Government. When that support

wavered after the December 2000 elections, the Gateway

Secretariat could provide no real support and GCNet had to

wait for more than 14 months to obtain approval from the

National Communications Authority to use a secure radio

frequency as part of its communications network. The absence

of dedicated support for the project also made it difficult to

make sure the various trade-related agencies were fully inte-

grated into the network.

The road ahead

So far, the reforms at CEPS have been limited to the introduction

of the GCMS and the associated simplification of processes. But

CEPS is still a rather outmoded and inefficient organization, with

limited specialized capacity in customs valuation to provide

support to the officers in charge of document compliance checks.

CEPS needs to gradually take over from the DIS companies, or

could rely much more selectively – and more economically – on

valuation support from inspection companies. The MoF should

take over the supervision of the activities of the DIS companies.

More members of the trading community should become part

of the GCNet community. Obviously, it will take time and persua-

sion to overcome the lack of ICT knowledge at some organizations

and the latent rivalry between them. High-level visible support

will help.

In the immediate future, it should be possible to convince

GPHA and the Shippers Association to issue waybills electroni-

cally, so carriers don’t have to manually submit information

already contained in the manifest that is electronically forwarded

to the council. The Statistics Service should activate its connec-

tion and initiate the download of trade statistics. The VAT service

and Internal Revenue Service, which are already connected,

should prepare themselves to use the data provided by the GCMS,

for which a streamlining of Taxpayer Identification Numbers will

be needed. The Bank of Ghana and MOTI could do likewise for

the online real-time collation of trade data, that they require for

preparing various trade statistical reports.

In the near future, it should also be possible to connect MOTI

with respect to the issuance of the Import Declaration, if this

will still be required in the future, as well as documentation for

the DIS companies that operate under MOTI contracts. The

early connection of the Food and Drug Board as well as the

Ghana Standards Board would also benefit trade greatly by

permitting more streamlined inspections. Connections can now

be made by a range of agencies such as the Ghana Free Zone

Board, Investment Promotion Centre, Driver and Vehicle

Licensing Authority, and Minerals Commission, which have key

roles to play in the processing of trade documents and the clear-

ance of cargo.

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Customs Documentary Review at airport

Photo: SGS