Chief Executive of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), Dr. Kofi Mbiah, is advocating the upgrade of Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS) to enable it obtain trade documents from the point of origin.
In an interview, he indicated that without that component, the avenue for doctoring of invoices still persists as the current system relies on information that is fed to it locally and that means concerns of transparency remains.
“I think it is important to do this; it is time we infuse into the system something that allows us to have greater latitude of transparency.
“When it comes to valuation, information is very key for the purposes of risk analysis. The more time you have to analyse the data available to you before the ship arrives, the better,” he said.
Dr. Mbiah in his assessment of the operations of the single window process barely six months since it was rolled-out indicated that: “It is still in the early stages to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down for it; but so far, so good.”
But with regard to viability of the single window to cure bottlenecks that the ASHI sought to address, he indicated that it will be to a very limited extent.
“This is because the system as it stands now still relies on information that is fed to it from within – locally — and therefore the avenue for doctoring invoices still persists,” he said.
Dr. Mbiah advised that, as a holistic system, the single window should seek to plug revenue leakages, improve security on the back of apprehension over porous borders and the proliferation of arms, as well as speed-up the goods clearance process, cut costs and facilitate transparency into the general shipping procedure.
Speaking on the impending elections and fortunes of the maritime sector, the shippers’ boss remained optimistic despite the panic that comes with the process.
He said: “Election years are difficult times for the maritime industry; quite unfortunately, our elections have been characterised by a certain level of panic– which does not augur well for business as the wary investor adopts a wait-and-see attitude.
“Our statistics have shown a decline in cargo throughput in every election year, but I’m hoping that this time around there is a certain level of consciousness as we try to keep down the flames of excessive passion that come with the elections.”