Isaac Crentsil
He asked truck drivers and traders to go straight to the custom officers to have their documents inspected and stamped instead of depending on ‘goro boys’ which comes with extra charges.
At the Ghana-Burkina Faso border, the agents charge an amount of about 10,000 CFA for the service which increases the cost of doing business in the country.
The directive was given after several complaints were made to the delegation which visited the Burkina Faso-Ghana border.
With this intervention by the Commissioner, no trader or truck driver would pay any extra amount.
According to him, the drivers could easily deal with customs officers directly without any difficulties instead of going through the agents or goro boys at the Ghana-Burkina Faso border, who pose as middlemen and transact business unbehalf of the customs offficers.
According to him, the agents only collect their documents and send them to customs officers for inspection and subsequent stamping at the aforementioned fee.
The commissioner issued the directive during an unannounced visit to the Paga-Dakola border to have first-hand information on activities going on at the border.
The trip was made after the Board Chairman of GPHA, Peter Mac Manu, led a delegation made up of the Director-General of GPHA, CEO of Ghana Shippers Authority, Director of Tema Port, the General Manager of Marketing and Corporate Affairs of GPHA and other stakeholders, on a trade mission to Burkina Faso.
Immediately the custom boss gave this directive, drivers and traders who use the border become extremely excited as the goro boys charges made goods more costly.
According to Crentsil, an official notice, would be passed to all custom officers at the borders to ensure strict compliance of this new rule.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), Benonita Bismarck, on his part, was optimistic the directive by the Commissioner of Customs would go a long way to make Ghana borders fit and attractive to business operators.
She said GSA, which is mandated to protect shippers in Ghana, has advocated against the practice long ago. And with such a move, Ghana’s competitiveness in business would be greatly enhanced.
The acting Director General of GPHA, Paul Asare Ansah, commended customs for the significant role in ensuring that trade between Ghana and its neighbours are enhanced.
He said in the year 2016, Ghana Ports was able to increase the transit traders by 59 percent.
He was of the view that removing goro boys from the borders, coupled with limited harassment by security agencies on the borders would help increase the number of businesses from neighbouring countries, who use the ports of Ghana for import and export.
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