I read an article in one of the dailies and subsequent radio reviews about Valentina Mintah who has been engaged to develop a system as part of the clearing procedures to enable the Ghana Customs Service take over the duties of the Destination Inspection Companies in Ghana. I strongly feel that her real image was not captured in the said article and I would therefore like to react to straighten the records.

In May 2013 I travelled to Abuja, Nigeria to execute a contract with the ECOWAS/GIZ. This assignment took me to the Top Management of the Nigeria Customs Service. During the course of our discussions, the Comptroller-General informed me that a fellow Ghanaian lady had been contracted by the Nigerian Government to develop a programme which would assist their Service to smoothly take over the duties of the Destination Inspection Companies in Nigeria by 1st July, 2013.

The Comptroller-General and his Management team invited Valentina Mintah to the meeting, introduced her to me and highly commended her for the good work she was doing; and at that moment, I felt very proud to be a Ghanaian. The question I asked was, a young Ghanaian lady working in the field of Information Technology for almighty Nigeria? Was there no person in Nigeria who was qualified enough to do the work the lady had been contracted to do?

In May, 2014 I went back to Nigeria on another assignment, and I was told by the Customs Administration that due to lack of cooperation from the Destination Inspection Companies and other agencies they could not take over the duties.

This they said was due to an act of sabotage by the affected companies to create disaffection among the trading public and other stakeholders. I was told that the companies refused to give them the needed data for the commencement of their operations; and that where they were given the data they found them to be full of errors thus making their work difficult.

This created apprehension among the public and stakeholders casting doubt as to the ability of the Customs Service to discharge its duties competently. The Nigerians authorities however, assured me that they were doing everything possible to clear whatever mess they could find in the data provided by the DICs and hoped to start full-scale operation within a short period.

When I visited Nigeria in May this year, I was told the Nigeria Customs Service had fully taken over the duties of the Destination Inspection Companies and that the stakeholders, particularly the trading public had come to realize the advantages of the new system which provides “a Single Window” for Customs operations and the introduction of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR). This goes to establish the fact that the Valentina Mintah was not a failure in Nigeria.

The Single Window concept provides that traders will start the clearing process from only one end to another end through one and only “Window”
The PAAR system allows the trader to submit his documents to the Customs even before the loading of the goods from the port of exportation to enable Customs assess the duties in advance for the importer to pay the duties before the arrival of the goods.

With this system importers would not have to wait for the arrival of the goods before preparing and presenting their customs declarations for the payment of duties to clear their goods from the ports.

Immediately upon the arrival of the goods, importers could go to the port to scan or physically examine their goods and take delivery, thus avoiding demurrage and other port charges. It is estimated that initially, between 60% and 75% of goods that would pass through our ports would be cleared under this system and this would ease congestion at the ports.

This PAAR system in our local phraseology is called the “Pre-entry System” and it is the modern Customs system of clearing goods from the ports to facilitate trade. Canada and other developed countries have adopted this system which is known as Pre-Arrival Review System (PARS).

This system was developed single-handedly by a Ghanaian lady for Nigeria, the giant of West Africa and according to the Comptrollers, Deputy Comptrollers and Directors of the Federal Ministry of Finance whom I met in Nigeria in May this year, they are satisfied with the present system of customs operations and that the initial complaints had ceased.

Valentina Mintah has something to offer the nation. Neither she nor any member of her family belonged to any political party in Nigeria, yet she won the contract to work successfully for the Nigeria Customs Service.

The ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) formally came into force in Member States on 1st January 2015 as part of the process of establishing a customs union in West Africa in accordance with the provisions of the ECOWAS revised Treaty.

To ensure the harmonization of customs operations in the region and enhance trade facilitation in line with the requirements for the smooth functioning of a customs union, ECOWAS Commission is developing a Community Common Customs Code for use in member states.

The introduction of the CET will ensure that rates of duties applicable in the Community are the same and that Customs procedures for the collection of such duties are uniformly applied. All modern customs procedures and practices are to be incorporated into the code and the “Single Window concept and the PAAR are among the systems to be entrenched in the code for the maximum mobilization of revenue and the facilitation of trade. The Common Customs Code is therefore to ensure that there is uniformity in customs procedures and operations in all Member States.

That is why it is important to harness all ideas and to look for the best practices in the Customs clearing procedures which are of international standard and practice.

I am not advocating for the withdrawal of the services of the Destination Inspection Companies nor am I asking for their retention. They signed a contract with the Government of Ghana to render services within a specified period and if the Government decides to end the contract or extend their contracts, that is the business of the Government. My problem is how we as a nation stifle the good intentions of individuals instead of encouraging them.

The GCNet has done a lot for the nation and I always say that apart from the introduction of cocoa into the country and the discovery of oil in Ghana, the best thing that has ever happened to Ghana in the smooth change in 2002 in the clearing procedure by the introduction of the GCNet. Even if Ghana wins the World Cup on two consecutive occasions, they will not match what the GCNet has done to the nation. But that does not mean there is no room for further development of the operations of the GCNet.

It is for this reason that I implore the authorities to ensure that Valentina Mintah is not thrown away but should be allowed to put her cards on the table for critical assessment. Her programme could be used to improve what is already is being practiced in Ghana. The Nigerians see her as an icon but her own people seem not to realize what she is capable of doing.

When the GCNet was being introduced, the devil who cladded himself as a man of God, and was paid by devilish people, went on the airwaves at dawn for nearly one month to warn Ghanaians that evil men in Ghana wanted to syphoned revenue that would be collected through the GCNet to Nigeria and that the system should not be allowed to be introduced to be introduce in Ghana. But some of us were able to prove to the devil that he is a liar. We stood firm and proved to the devil that he was an enemy of the Ghanaian people.

Being the granddaughter of Mr. Ben and being affiliated to party A or B is not what is important. What is important is, has she got something good for Mother Ghana?

Thanks for the space.

Yours faithfully,
Kofi Danquah
koodanquah22@yahoo.com