Second week of Paperless System proves successful

The second week of the paperless transactions at the ports of Ghana successfully went by with relatively fewer number of clearing agents at the GPHA Data center to process documentations and clear their goods.

The number of agents who wondered around the Customs long room were significantly reduced and most importantly the regular demonstrations that characterised the project before it was rolled out and during the first week of its implementation was conspicuously absent in this second week.

Unlike the first week which was largely characterised by interruptions in network systems connectivity and internet downtime, the second week saw a great improvement in that regard.

Although in the early part of the week, IT systems providers struggled with drops in network connectivity, they were restored in no time followed by fewer complaints.

Both major transacting banks ECOBANK and ADB, could receive and transfer payments by the agents or customers both online and in-branch in real time as supposed to the previous week.

GPHA invoices had no errors on them and unstuffing charges reflected on the bills contrary to what was observed in the first week making the finance team of the Authority very comfortable and pleased.

However, there were a number of challenges in the first week that still reared its ugly head in the second week, hence demanding resolution as we enter the 3rd week of the paperless project.

First was the difficulty faced by clearing agents and importers to print their invoices from their offices or homes after they had made payments to the Banks, online or in-branch.

Many of such agents trooped to the GPHA revenue center where a customer service point has been established to request for such invoices to be printed for them there. However after a day or so, GCNet was able to work on that challenge hence was resolved. But towards the end of the week, that difficulty resurfaced.

The second, was the difficulty of having containers not gating in from Meridian Port Services to the GPHA terminals on time. Many Customers complained about the delay in the gate-in process, but then again on Thursday the Port Authority had put in place contingency measures to have most of the containers gated-in so that they will be ready for pick-ups when the agents arrive by the 3rd week.

Another major challenge the agents and importers faced in the second week of the paperless project was the inability of Custom officials to access the Joint Inspection Management Systems (JIMIS).

This prevented the officers from releasing the goods to the agents on time even when the joint inspection had taken place and the containers needed to exit the Port. Again on this, customs were discussing extensively with its technical partners West Blue who manage the JIMIS to resolve the challenge as we enter the 3rd week of the project.

On the other hand, while the Port Authority was being praised for establishing the customer service point at its Revenue center, others felt that such centers should have the presence of very high level officials leading the Project like Deputy Commissioners of Customs and CEOs of service providers so that there can be real time results when complaints are made especially in this early stages of implementation of the Project.

They also urged other agencies like Customs and West Blue to be at the customer service center and join GPHA and GCNet to listen to the concerns of customers and resolve them urgently as the paperless systems is being fine-tuned to attain perfection.