The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has warned against any reintroduction of the Cargo Tracking Network (CTN) at the ports effective November 1, 2023.

The (CTN) is a system that will provide data to the Ghana Customs Division and other stakeholders to enable cargo review processes in a manner that will ensure key shipment information in real time to effectively control, supervise and manage import traffic into Ghana.

In response to the news, GUTA President Dr Jospeh Obeng said in an interview with GhanaWeb Business that the business community will fiercely oppose the move, especially at a time when many companies are still feeling the effects of the ongoing economic downturn.

“This CTN was first introduced in 2018 and as a result of severe agitation of the policy within the business community, it was taken off and is now being smuggled back at a time when most businesses are struggling under the effects of the economic hardship and other cost of doing business,” the GUTA president told GhanaWeb Business via phone on October 31, 2023

“We [GUTA] therefore entreat the business community to ignore this directive which takes effect from November 1, 2023, until the right and relevant stakeholder engagement has been held with the business community over the CTN's reintroduction,” Dr Obeng added.

The GUTA president further pointed out that the CTN would not be accepted because the trading community was made to believe that the existing ICUMS was going to solve the bottlenecks of the CTN.

“We know ICUMS has been efficient since its implementation at the ports and so a reintroduction of the CTN would be counterproductive to the business community. The CTN impedes the ease, time and cost of doing business as we have always argued over in the past. Businesses are currently experiencing serious challenges we are not going to accept a reintroduction of this counterproductive CTN policy," the GUTA president emphasised.

Meanwhile, the CTN was first introduced in 2018 at the ports but was quickly resisted by the trading community who believed the policy was going to impede the ease, time, and cost of doing business.



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