|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Samuel Asamoah and Justice Ahoto
A coalition of traders, freight forwarders and customs brokers has called on government to urgently review a series of policy directives affecting transit trade, customs valuation and port operations, warning of potential consequences for Ghana’s competitiveness as a regional trade hub.
The group, comprising the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA), Traders Advocacy Group Ghana (TAGG), Customs Brokers Association of Ghana (CUBAG), Freight Forwarders Association of Ghana (FFAG), Association of Customs House Agents Ghana (ACHAG), and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, raised the concerns at a press conference in Accra on Monday.
According to the coalition, repeated attempts to engage the Ministry of Finance on the issues, including formal correspondence and a delegation visit, have not yielded any response, prompting the public address.
At the centre of the concerns is a directive restricting the land transit of selected goods, a move authorities have positioned as a revenue protection measure. However, the coalition argues that the directive risks undermining confidence in Ghana’s transit regime and could push cargo to competing corridors in neighbouring countries.
“Transit trade thrives on predictability. Once that confidence is shaken, cargo simply diverts—and it is not easy to win it back,” the group stated.
The coalition urged government to adopt targeted enforcement measures that address abuse within the transit system without penalising compliant traders operating under ECOWAS and international trade frameworks.
The group also raised strong objections to the deployment of the Publican AI system in customs valuation, describing it as lacking transparency and potentially inconsistent with Ghanaian law. According to the coalition, the system appears to impose AI-generated benchmark values as minimum thresholds for duty assessments, contrary to provisions of the Customs Act, 2015 (Act 891), which provides for transaction value as the primary basis for valuation.
They further cited instances of what they described as excessive and inconsistent duty assessments on similar consignments, raising concerns about the reliability of the system. The coalition also questioned the AI’s ability to fairly assess used and non-standard goods, arguing that such items require human judgment rather than automated valuation models.
“Technology without accountability creates fear. Technology with accountability creates trust,” the group noted.
On port operations, the coalition expressed concern over the recentralisation of the Customs Technical Services Bureau (CTSB), warning that the move could create bottlenecks in cargo clearance. It argued that concentrating valuation and classification decisions at a single point, without defined service timelines and escalation procedures, risks delays, increased demurrage costs and operational uncertainty for traders.
The group also highlighted concerns over increasing fees and charges imposed by multiple regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana Standards Authority and the Food and Drugs Authority, noting that frequent upward reviews are placing an additional financial burden on businesses and contributing to rising consumer prices.
The coalition is calling for immediate government intervention, including a review or suspension of the Publican AI valuation directive, the establishment of an independent and accessible appeals mechanism, and the decentralisation of valuation processes to reduce delays at the ports. It also wants broader stakeholder consultations on trade-related policies, alignment of all measures with existing legal frameworks, and a downward review of fees and charges imposed by regulatory bodies.
The group warned that failure to address the concerns could trigger coordinated industrial action across the sector.
“Continued disregard for these issues will leave industry players with no option but to take further lawful steps to protect the survival of businesses,” the coalition cautioned.
As of the time of filing this report, government had not officially responded to the concerns raised.
