Nepotism at trade ministry?

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has been accused of scheming to wrest the inspection and pricing of imports at Ghana’s entry points from the original handlers and to place it in the laps of new companies favoured by the government.

Worried stakeholders in the trade and import business who alerted the Chronicle of the apparent partisan back-kick, warned that billions of cedis could be lost to the national economy monthly- if a tender already floated for bidders is not transparently executed but the contract is awarded to the novice companies.

Two companies heavily suspected by Chronicle informants to be the likely choices in the deal are Ghana Link Network Services (GLNS) and ITS. What has heightened the speculations and anxiety of people is the fact that six months after the tender was floated, the Ministry has failed to come out with who won the bid.

The floating of the tender was followed by a surprise announcement by the sector minister, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, that the job was going to be handed over to the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), something most stakeholders saw as contradictory to the tender.

The common name given to the work is destination inspection and it involves inspecting and valuing all goods that arrive at the airports. Tema and Takoradi ports as well as other entry points in the country. The agency that does the pricing advises CEPS on what duty to charge and the latter then imposes the duty, which is one of the most critical sources of Ghana’s taxes.

Gateway Services Limited (GSL) and Ghana Standards Bureau Veritas (GSBV), Societe Generalle Surveillance (SGS) and Cotenac won a 10-year contract from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to undertake the inspection and pricing in 1999.

When the New Patriotic Party (NPP) took over the reins of government in 2000, traders’ outcry over the unsatisfactory services of the four companies prompted it to review the contract. And in reviewing it, the government would give the job to CEPS and no other organisation, the sector minister promised.

As reported on the front page of the Daily Graphic of 5 March, this year, Dr Apraku announced plans to take over the operations of inspection agencies at the country’s ports within the “shortest possible time.”

In a message to a World Trade Organisation (WTO), Customs Valuation Agreement and Trade Facilitation for CEPS officials’ seminar, Dr Apraku stated that moves were underway to improve the human and institutional capacities of CEPS to facilitate the takeover.

Meanwhile, six companies, Intertec, SGS, GLNS, Velosi, Humber Services and ITS had filed applications in response to the tender. The six months silence over who is picked has caused disquiet among the contestants and suspicion that new entrants, Ghana Link and ITS would be signed on to unseat the old customers.

Allegations that the two are new on the Ghanaian import scene and could blunder at great cost to the economy have also been made among stakeholders. As was learnt, Ghana depends on import revenue for 70 per cent of all government revenue. But when the Trade Ministry was contacted, it sought to allay any fears of shady deals and loss of revenue.

According to the schedule officer of destination inspection, Mr Appiah Donyinah, it was precisely to break the monopoly of a few companies and enhance efficiency in the inspection business that the ministry was signing on more companies to do the job. He explained that Cabinet had approved the addition of two more companies to work alongside GSL and GSBV, denying that the two additional companies had been decided on already.

Asked why the delay over the last six months, the officer said there was the need to negotiate with the two old companies being retained who had already invested monies in the inspection. But when pressed to tell when the negotiation would end, he disclosed that it would actually start on Tuesday 11 June.

On when CEPS takes over the valuation of the imported goods, Mr Donyinah said it would be after five years at least. “Even as far back as 1994, we were saying we would hand over to CEPS as soon as possible because it takes so many things to get Customs to take over,” he concluded.