Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), the new Customs management and port community platform that processes documents and payments through a single window, has boosted revenue generation and trade facilitation, President Nana Akufo-Addo has said.
According to him, Customs revenue for 2021 stood at GHȻ16.08billion as opposed to GHȻ12.03billion in 2019 when ICUMS had not been implemented.
The president said this when he was delivering the State of the Nation Address in parliament, where he lauded progress in the country’s digitalization strides.
“ICUMS, when it was introduced, provoked a lot of controversy. At the moment, we are seeing the benefits. Indeed, Customs revenue prior to the implementation of ICUMS, for the period June 2019 to May 2020, stood at GHȻ11.25billion.
“Between June 2020, the start of ICUMS and May 2021 – teething challenges, ill-considered propaganda and the impact of COVID-19 on global trade notwithstanding – Customs revenue increased by 27.6 percent to GHȻ14.36billion.
“Indeed, Customs revenue for 2021 stood at GHȻ16.08billion as opposed to GHȻ12.03billion in 2019 when ICUMS had not been implemented,” he said.
ICUMS
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in 2020, via a statement, gave the go-ahead for all transactions in respect of import and export manifest to be processed through either ICUMS or the Ghana Customs Management System for the Port of Tema as well as all other entry points.
The ICUMS is a single-window project to replace the multiplicity of vendors with a single service provider deploying an end-to-end system.
Also, it is to effectively check or limit – if not stop – the rising cost of doing business at the port; reduce the time taken for goods clearances at the ports for all stakeholders; as well as block what government has identified as huge leakage in revenue mobilization – not only at the ports but domestically in general.
Digitalization of economy
Presenting the SONA, the president also reiterated that digitalization of the economy is crucial to development and ensuring efficiency in the country.
Citing digitalization of the Births and Deaths Registry and the Ghana Card, President Akufo-Addo said integration will rid the system of duplication as well as facilitate social and economic development.
“Indeed, we are expecting greater things from the wider use of technology and digitalization of our economy as a whole. I am happy to report that the National Identification Card – the Ghana Card – has finally been integrated into our everyday lives as a cradle-to-grave necessity.
“Operations of the Births and Deaths Registry are finally being digitized to make sure that documents issued from that department are accorded the respect they should have. Every child born in this country will be registered, and the date of birth registered will remain your date of birth throughout your life.
“There will be no school age, no football age, no SSNIT age, and no official age. When we register for National Health Insurance, the details of our identification will be the same as the details on a driving licence, a passport and, yes, on our tax identification,” he said.
