Ghana To Introduce ‘First Port Duty Rule’
The Government of Ghana intends to implement the First Port Duty Rule
at Ghana’s ports in order to tackle smuggling arising from diverted
transit goods supposedly meant for landlocked countries such as Burkina
Faso, Mali and Niger.
Studies have shown that many of such goods are either unloaded and
sold inside Ghana or sent through unapproved routes to the said
destinations, thereby depriving both Ghana and the eventual destination
the necessary revenue.
Under the First Port Duty Rule, Customs officials of the landlocked
nations will be stationed at Ghana’s ports, and the importer will be
directed to the appropriate country desk to pay if indeed it is a
transit good.
The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, announced
the corruption-fighting measure when he gave the keynote address at the
39th Council and Conference of the Ports Management Association of West
and Central Africa (PMAWCA) in Accra on Monday 30th July, 2018.
Addressing the participants, which included Directors of ports in 15
West and Central African countries as well representatives from the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and other key stakeholders,
Vice President Bawumia bemoaned the high level of corruption dogging the
transit trade.
“So much smuggling is taking place through “Transit” trade to
neighboring countries such as Togo, Burkina, Niger and Mali. Not only
does Ghana lose, the other countries also lose revenue when unapproved
routes are used for example.
“For the most part, the goods never leave Ghana. Ghana will
therefore be introducing the First Port Duty Rule hopefully before the
end of the year. Under this rule, the customs authorities of our
neighboring countries will have presence at our port.
“So if an importer claims they are going to Mali or Burkina Faso,
they just go to the Malian or Burkina desks and pay their duties,” Vice
President Bawumia explained.
The Vice President underscored Ghana’s commitment to improving its
trade relations with its neighbours particularly, those in the
landlocked nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, with a series of
Trade Missions to these countries to strengthen ties and demonstrate our
commitment to making Ghana’s Corridors and the Ports friendly for their
patronage.
Vice President Bawumia urged the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) to effectively ensure the enforcement of the
implementation of the axle load policy, which mandates all member
countries to limit a 6-axle truck to a 60-tonne loading capacity in
order to prevent the destruction of roads.
“As you may be aware, Ghana has consistently complied with and
implemented this loading policy since 2009 when the enforcement came
into effect. The goal is to protect the roads infrastructure in our
sub-region. Unfortunately, it has been reported that not all other
ECOWAS member countries are complying with this policy. This undermines
regional cooperation and creates an atmosphere of unfairness in Transit
Trade on the various corridors in the sub-region.”
“Ghana,” he added, “is committed to improving its ports and road
corridors to enhance international trade with its trading partners. We
are therefore open to the best examples and recommendations towards
achieving these goals.”
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