On Monday October 15, the Commissioner General for Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti insisted that the implementation of the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) has come to despite fierce resistance by some stakeholders.
He mentioned that the policy has enormous benefits the country stands to gain and when fully streamlined, would eliminate certain number of malpractices at the ports.
The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF) and the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) have consistently kicked against the implementation of the policy.
GUTA says its members are against CTN’s implementation at the ports because GRA failed to communicate properly to all stakeholders. Freight forwarders are also of the view that the policy will pose impediments on trade facilitation.
According to the groups, their stiff opposition stems from what they say, could affect the cost of running their businesses.
However, government has insisted that the implementation of the CTN module will have no additional cost on the activities of importers’ businesses.
The President of GIFF, Kwabena Ofosu Appiah hinted that its members could seek a redress at the court to stop GRA from continuing with the policy.
To add to this, a freight forwarder, John Kwame Jack, before the implementation of the CTN, instituted an injunction suit to restrict GRA from going ahead to streamline the policy. He was praying the court to declare the implementation of the policy as null and void.
What makes the situation balanced and fair is that there are equally other stakeholders who are of the view that the CTN policy has good fortunes for the state which must be implemented. According to them, streamlining the module will bring some form of sanity at the ports.
Frozen Food Importers Association (FFIP), a key stakeholder has come out to support the implementation of the CTN policy. According to the group, the policy will bring a level playing field in the Customs Duty Payment and Valuation Regime
Another major key stakeholder, Freight and Trade Chamber (FTC) issued a statement expressing its full support towards the CTN module.
Chairman of the Chamber, Mr. Denis Amfo Sefa, adding his voice to the arguments, stated that the policy will block revenue leakages at the ports.
After all, the Ghana Revenue Authority has touted numerous benefits which comes with the implementation of the CTN policy.
The Commissioner General, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti addressing the media in Accra to kick-start the official implementation of the module, enumerated several benefits which the policy will curb.
“At the piloting stage in July and August, the authority had detected that goods worth US$14.5 million have been under-declared at the ports,” he noted.
Goldstreet Business has been keenly monitoring all sides of the issues, both on the sharp divided key stakeholders in the exporting community and that of the government
We believe that it is important government naturally creates an enabling atmosphere to allow traders and importers go about their usual businesses without any impediments. There is no doubt that this enabling environment exist.
However, we believe that it is also equally important all major players in the exporting fraternity accept the implementation of the CTN system due to its vast advantages the country stands to gain.
Goldstreet Business believes that CTN will contribute erroneously in sanitizing our ports on some major challenges facing the system, which include malpractices, manipulations and host of other infractions at the ports.
