Ghana has lost over GH¢100 million since UNIPASS rollout – Isaac Adongo

Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Isaac Adongo, has said Ghana has lost ¢100 million at the ports in three days due to errors in the switch from port management system GCNET and West Blue to UNIPASS.

According to him, the anomaly occurred from April 28 to April 30 adding that, the revenue loss has continued till June causing huge financial loss to the country.

“From May 28 to 30, 2020, Ghana did not receive a penny at the ports for clearance of goods and we’ve lost close to GH¢100 million in three to four days just to pave way for the transition of existing systems; West Blue-GCNet to UNIPASS/ICUMS”

“All the protocols for transition and the pilot would’ve cleared the way to have a seamless transition to an electronic end-to-end system and vice versa. Why is the transition and actual ICUMS operations still manual after we lost about GH¢100 million,” he said in an interaction with the media.

Mr Adongo also claimed no entry has been processed at the Elubo border for one week adding, entries are not being made through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) with declarants compelled to make payments against clearance, to be corrected later.

“Manual collusion with customs officers eminent as importers are unlikely to return to perfect transactions fully manual with arbitrary and colluded duty valuations.” he added.

Ship Owners Frustrated

The Ship owners and Agents Association of Ghana, earlier this week, officially wrote to government in protest against the Ghana Link/UNIPASS-ICUMS platform, pointing out the never ending frustrations and disappointment it has brought to the ports.

“We must put on record that our members spared no effort and offered their maximum cooperation during the transition period to ensure that there would be a workable system by the end of the roll-out of the system.

“Unfortunately, things have not gone as expected and as at date, we are unable to upload most of our files onto the system. We have therefore had to resort to manual uploading which happens to be a slow and laborious process.

“With regards to the current situation, which has arisen through no fault of ours, members cannot be held liable for any delay or inconvenience that must be borne by consignees,” a statement signed by the Association’s Executive Secretary, Perpetua Osei-Bonsu on Monday June 8, noted