The Ghana Revenue Authority, GRA, has refuted claims that the Tema Collection of the Customs Division failed to meet its revenue target by 45% due to the deployment of the Integrated Customs Management Systems at the Tema port.

According to GRA, the Customs Division on average collects GHS 942 million cedis monthly, and the average three months run rate for Tema Collection for 2020 is GHS574.8 million cedis.

It said this figure compared with the June performance of Tema Collection of GHS 554 million does not show any significant difference in collection.

In a statement issued by the company, Assistant Commissioner, Communication and Public Affairs, Florence Asante, said, “The performance also clearly refutes the claim that the deployment of the ICUMS at the ports in June 2020 has resulted in revenue shortfalls for the month of June.”

GRA further noted that the revenue figures and the conclusions drawn from these figures by the sections of the media are based on ‘Stretched Targets’ provided to all offices, including the Tema Collection, to motivate staff to perform optimally.

The UNIPASS/ICUMS System

The ICUMS, also known as UNIPASS, was rolled out on June 1, to take over the single window platform from GCNet and West Blue Consult at the Ports.

Even though the system faced challenges, government was able to rake in 490 million cedis in 17 days, which it said was more than half of the amount raised by the previous system in a month.

Opposition to UNIPASS

Prior to its take-off, Policy think-tank, IMANI Africa, earlier this year petitioned government to temporarily suspend the operations of UNI-PASS and allow GCNET and West Blue to operate for the remainder of the year.

The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders also predicted revenue losses if the inefficiencies of the UNIPASS system were not addressed.

Source: Citibusinessnews.com