IN the year 2000, the first destination inspection company (DIC) pitched camp in town to do business in the country. Since then, three other DICs, namely, BIVAC International, Inspection and Control Services and Ghana Link Network, have joined the Gateway Services Limited (GSL) to engage in some core businesses on behalf of the Government of Ghana and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
These DICs were engaged to do price qualification and classification of goods on behalf of the government, build price database for CEPS and subsequently transfer the know-how to CEPS at the end of their contract terms so that CEPS could take over those responsibilities.
As payment for their services, these DICs receive one per cent commission on all transactions made on behalf of the government.
The idea of the DICs became relevant apparently under the assumption that CEPS was deficient in the technological know-how and human capacity to effectively and efficiently perform those functions ceded to the DICs.
To prepare for the ultimate taking over of the job specifications of the DICs, CEPS took certain steps, including attachment of its staff to these DICs for on-the-job training, while organising overseas training programmes for core staff in the relevant fields.
CEPS also invested in space and equipment by inaugurating a fully equipped and furnished Classification and Valuation Unit at Ridge in Accra in anticipation of fully taking over all core destination inspection functions by January 2009.
This is because apart from the GSL, whose original 10-year contract was due to end in 2010, all the other DICs were to end their operations by December 2008. Even though a one-year extension contract was given to them, the idea was to prepare the DICs for a gradual withdrawal, while CEPS consolidates its control over destination inspection.
Mr Emmanuel Doku, the CEPS Commissioner, in an address at the inauguration of the Classification and Valuation complex in October last year, proclaimed that CEPS was now ready to take over all inspection functions.
A study commissioned by the Ministry of Trade and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) came to the conclusion that CEPS should be fully in charge of destination works.
The report recommended that the contracts of the three DICs – BIVAC, Inspection and Control Services and Ghana Link Network — should not be renewed, while that of GSL should also not be renewed when it expired in 2010.
Already, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was not in favour of the operations of the DICs.
The benefits for the nation and other stakeholders in the event of CEPS taking over all core functions are many. In terms of revenue mobilisation and maximisation, the state will eliminate leakage in government revenue or at least reduce it drastically. The CEPS system will also reduce human intervention and thereby close the gaps for possible corruption.
There are records indicating that on several occasions valuation figures provided by the DICs fell below CEPS’ own figures when they came up for further verification. Most important, the transaction being executed online will be easily available and accessible to importers.
The question now is, why the delay in handing over this important business to CEPS, after importers, freight forwarders and other stakeholders had expressed their support for a take-over of the destination inspection by CEPS?
Also questionable is the declaration in January 2009 by the same CEPS Commissioner that his organisation, about which he boasted in October 2008 that it was ready to handle its core duties, could suddenly find itself no longer capable of executing those same functions.
Has CEPS suddenly lost its professional staff who were positioned to take over destination inspection duties in January this year? What about the Classification and Valuation edifice the CEPS Commissioner inaugurated in October 2008? Has it lost its equipment and furnishings so soon to render it useless?
Another strange thing which needs explanation is how an eight-year agreement was signed on December 28, 2008 which was a Sunday (non-working day) with a new company, Ghana Customs Inspection Limited, which is apparently an offshoot of Ghana Link Network, to do destination inspection work in the country.
How can another company be given such a long-term contract when CEPS was a few days away from taking over those duties? Who the owners of that company are and the motives behind such a contract are questions begging for answers.
Can CEPS be working against itself by declaring its readiness to take over destination inspection duties in one breath, while at the same time sponsoring another company to remove the meat from its mouth?
The country must not lose the opportunity to maximise its revenue collection on import duties, neither should it isolate itself from international norms. That is why whatever the stumbling blocks are on the path of CEPS, they should be removed immediately so that the service could fully assume its classification and valuation functions in the country without delay.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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