According to the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority, Ms Benonita Bismarck, harmonisation of transit processes are key in achieving the policy on free trade along the transit corridors in line with ECOWAS protocols.

Heads of State, she maintained, ought to commit themselves to an open, equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system, which could improve the sub-region’s business competitiveness.

Speaking to the Graphic Business on the sidelines of the just ended conference on Single Windows and Port Community Systems (PCS) in Cotonou, Benin, Ms Bismarck suggested that the activity-based cost where goods in transit were made to spend several days at various borders within the sub-region were likely to derail the efforts being made to improve trade competitiveness among countries.

“With the adoption and implementation of single windows, border officials do not have to go through the validation of documentations on transit goods which could take days to a week before such cargoes could cross to the next point. A single window platform by a click of a button could display that all forms of duties have been paid, and this would allow easy passage of shipments,” Ms Bismarck said.

“If we want to make Africa competitive, we ought to rise and put our shoulders to the wheel and ensure the removal of artificial barriers, which are a poor reflection on trade on the continent,” she added.

 Strategies

Having encountered challenges travelling via road from Ghana through Togo to Benin, Ms Bismarck bemoaned the congestion, which had seen cargos in transit being made to wait for several days at the Ghana-Togo-Benin borders.

“There are several physical impediments in the movement of goods from Ghana to Togo. One has to go through several police points, immigration, customs and all these agencies have separate windows for the processing of documentations processing before one could cross the border,” she bemoaned.

She suggested the need for the various shipper’s authorities to collaborate and set up a central call point fixed with toll free numbers which transshipment drivers could call for assistance when they were being delayed unnecessarily on their journey.

The toll free numbers, she said, could serve as a convergence point for all stakeholders such as police, customs, immigrations, importers, exporters, among others, connected to the transit processes to allow for the immediate deployment of officers in the event of challenges.

The notion of free trade, she pointed out, only existed on paper as countries within the sub-region, she said, had failed to demonstrate political commitment to the harmonisation of processes that were vital to the achievement of the protocols all countries had subscribed to.

Extortion at the barriers, she also stressed, went to increase shipping fee, which is then passed onto the consumer.

The GSA, she suggested, had engaged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and an agreement had been reached on unwanted police barriers since those of Customs were being removed, “so the transport and interior ministers are to collaborate in this regard to ensure a significance reduction of these barriers,” she said.

“We can put in all the lofty plans such as single windows, but if the physical blocks are still in place, we cannot achieve anything as a country or sub-region,” Ms Bismarck added.

Trade statistics

She expressed worry that intra-Africa-trade had been minimal since there were no statistics to support how much trade existed between countries owing to the impediments in the processes.

By convention, landlocked countries that used the ports of other countries, she maintained, did not need to pay levies on transhipment, however, goods arriving from Burkina Faso for transhipment to other countries, she said, attracted charges of $200 imposed by customs.

As such, Ms Bismarck said, consignees had, therefore, devised means where such cargos were declared as being shipped into Ghana, and “these have affected the kind of statistics that we should have documented on transhipment trade,” she bewailed.

Port single window

On the seminar, Ms Bismarck said, she was impressed with the manner of efficiency at Benin and Togo Ports with the implementation of national single window in the two countries.

“As it appears, some level of efficiency and transparency has been brought into their trade chain and a level of projection of what revenue government could derived from all the transactions that goes through their ports,” Ms Bismarck remarked.

She, however, expressed disappointed at what she described as a lack of coordination of Ghana’s single window system by the service providers and government.

“Our present situation looks like that of two windows. Why can’t we have just one universal window so as to clear the confusion in the minds of the trading public and shippers,” she queried.

“When it comes to the implementation of such high budget projects, political will is required to go with it and follow up with it if we are to ensure seamless processes,” she indicated.