FLASHBACK: Government is struggling with '419' paperless system - Isaac Adongo

In 2017, the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, said the government was finding it difficult to implement the paperless port system initiative.

According to him, "...they say they have a paperless system. Can’t you see 419? It doesn’t make sense… they are struggling. There are systems that need to be completed because the Vice President arrived at the port in July and said by September 1 he wants a paperless system. Can you do this in two months?"

This was after the finance minister noted that the system has led to an increase in revenue at the port by about 35.4%.

Read the full story originally published on November 16, 2017, by GhanaWeb

Member of Parliament of Bolgatanga Central has said that the government is struggling to implement its touted paperless ports system adding that it has failed to deliver the intended results.

This follows claims by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in his 2018 budget presented to parliament, in which he revealed the government’s introduction of paperless transactions at the country’s ports as a means of improving efficiency. According to him, implementation of the paperless system significantly reduced transaction time from 2 days to 8 hours (of compliant transactions) whilst revenue from the Port increased by 35.4 percent.

The MP who is certain that the system ought to be completed before it is implemented described it as a “419” move which “doesn’t make sense”. For him, two months is too short a time to make the new system effective.

“…they say they have done a paperless system. Can’t you see 419? It doesn’t make sense…they are struggling. There are systems that need to be completed because the Vice President arrived at the port in July and said by September 1 he wants a paperless system. Can you do this in two months?"

Isaac Adongo described as unrealistic, the government’s earlier declaration to roll out a paperless tax exemption system to block the revenue leakages that recur with the current manual system at the beginning of 2018.

He claimed the result of government’s “struggle” to implement the system is a result of taking credit for the work done by the opposition after the NDC presented the Single Window Bill to provide the legal effect to implementing single window as well as employing the services of West Blue Consulting, an IT firm engaged for the provision of the National Single Window and Risk Management System in Ghana.

“So you see what happens to you when you want to take the credit for somebody’s work? That is after the NDC government has done all the work…last year were you not here when we brought a bill for a single window to provide the legal effect to implementing a single window…when we recruited West Blue...when we developed all the systems. Now it is meant to be implemented and you say you want it in two months. You should see that the man is struggling,” the Bolgatanga MP lamented.

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