Accra, May 23, 2017//- Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance have called for the integration of West Blue Consulting and Ghana Community Network (GCNet) systems at the ports.
According to them, integrating their systems would enable them maximise revenue for the government.
The members of the committee made the call when they paid a working visit on the management and staff of the West Blue Consulting in Accra today.
The purpose of the visit was to abreast themselves with the operations of the company after its successful implementation of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS) and other key components of the project.
The PAARS is a modernized system that has been developed by the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as part of the implementation of the GNSW project to enhance revenue mobilization, improve border security and customs clearance, overcome duplication across regulatory agencies and promote trade facilitation.
Advice
The Chairman of the Committee, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah who was not enthused about the current turf-war going on between the two entities, advised them to work together to increase revenue and reduce time and cost of doing business at the country’s ports.
He stated:”Both GCNet and West Blue are complementary. What I want to see is for them to be working together , for them to be integrating their networks and operations for the benefits of the country”.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah noted: “Both of them have contracts with the government. They are not going away. GCNet is here until 2018 or so. West Blue will also be here until 2020. So, they are here. Rather they have to integrate their systems so that we can really operationalise this Single Window thing, less paper and everything will be in electronic”.
The visit which also formed part of a fact-finding afforded the members of the committee to learn the activities of West Blue, the technical partners of the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) project.
Three weeks ago, the members of the committee paid similar working visit to GCNet to find what they are doing regarding revenue collection.
It is a good visit
“So, it is a good visit. We have learnt about their operations. I thinking there are doing something good but I want to see the complementary effort of GCNet and West Blue working together that is all that we are interested in. Once revenues are increasing we are fine”, Dr Assibey-Yeboah who is also the MP for New Juaben South in the Eastern Region acknowledged.
He explained that the next step for the committee was to meet senior officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to hear what they will say concerning the activities of the two entities.
As Dr Assibey-Yeboa put it: “The customs sits on top of both of entities and then after customs we will meet be with the Ministry of Finance. Then we can firmly inform Parliament on what these entities do, their supervision by customs, and the Ministry of Finance”.
“Then as a committee we can come out fully to make a definitive statement on the way forward”, stressed.
Assurance
The Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, assured that the committee would be objective and do what is best for the country.
Achievements
Earlier, presenting an update and achievements of the GNSW, the Chief Executive Officer of West Blue Consulting, Madam Mintah said despite the Customs Division of the GRA could not meet its revenue target in the first year of the GNSW project implementation last year but it had improved revenue generation.
She added that the project had led to “28.7 percent improvement in GRA-Customs import duties and levies in 2016”.
Since the introduction of the GNSW’s PAARS last year, traders are able to access Customs Classification and Valuation Report (CCVR) within 48 hours, she revealed.
In some cases, within an hour that is substantial improvement from the previous situation whereby it used to take traders more than a week or two weeks just to get their CCVR, the CEO stated.
Madam Mintah was quick to add the system has brought some efficiency at the ports, reduced time, reduced corruption, and cost of doing business.
Another significant achievement Madam Mintah mentioned was the country’s historic performance on the recent World Bank’s Ease of Doing rankings.
Ghana had moved an impressive 13 places up on the Trading Across Borders in the latest World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report. The report accredited the performance to the GNSW project initiated by the government.
The Doing Business 2017 report, titled ’Equal Opportunity for All’, showed that Ghana was placed at position 108 out of 190 countries surveyed in the Overall Ranking of Ease of Doing Business – an improvement from 111 in the previous report.
In the sub-Saharan Africa sub-region, Ghana ranked in the Top 10, coming 9th, out of the 47 countries ranked in the region. This is evidence that the Government of Ghana is pursuing active reforms to ensure the Ease of Doing Business in Ghana.
The Customs Division of GRA took over the processing of the CCRV from the destination companies in September 2015. The CCRV replaced the destination inspection report also known as the Final Classification and Valuation Report (FCVR). In spite of the successes chalked so far through the implementation of the PAARS, she said there was still more room for improvement.
Based on the experience of the Single Window implementations in other countries, West Blue estimated that the GNSW project would reduce the cost and time of international trade (import, export and transit) in Ghana by 50 per cent and 25 per cent respectively over the next five years.
Economic benefits of GNSW
This, Madam Mintah explained would have a huge impact on the international competitiveness of Ghanaian business and should other things being equal, result in a strong growth in the country’s international trade performance.
It will also significantly increase the global ranking of Ghana in the World Bank’s ‘Trading Across Borders Report’ from the rank of 171 in 2016 to 121 by 2021. Similarly, the ranking within the Sub-Saharan African regions could increase from 36 to 16, if all things being equal, she stated.
Madam Mintah added that another potential benefit of the GNSW is the likely positive impact on the country’s foreign direct investment prospects.
“Trade efficiency is a key determinant of investment decisions by international business and the positioning of Ghana as a trade efficient and trade friendly country will greatly enhance its attractiveness to such investors”.
Furthermore, she believes that the GNSW is expected boost economic growth of the country, adding that the Single Window would enhance institutional and nation building, improved and effective collection of government revenues, simpler, faster processes for clearance and release, reduced costs of compliance, reduced corruption, reduction in bureaucratic processes, among others.
Background
Instructively, the GNSW project was initiated on 1st September 2015 by the Government of Ghana to enhance the country’s trade and economic development and secure and increase government revenue. It was officially launched in 1st December, 2015.
Indeed, the Single Window concept was developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 2005 as an effort to simplify, harmonise and standardise international trade procedures and associated information flows between trade and government and within government itself.
UNECE, through its UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), defined Single Window as “a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. If information is electronic, then individual data elements should only be submitted once”.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
