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Finance Ministry advises CEPS on the
necessity of transperency
Tema, June 12, Ghanadot/GNA– The Ministry
of Finance and Economic Planning has directed the Customs
Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to publicize the values
of the common vehicles, to enable the public to make choices
in their purchases.
The publication, which should also be computed at CEPS’s
website, must state details such as the model, type and make
of the vehicles to give a fair idea of the amount to pay, Mr
Samuel Yankyera, Assistant Commissioner in charge of
Research at CEPS made this known at Tema on Thursday.
He was addressing members of the Tema Regional Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (CCI) on the general operations of
CEPS at their annual general meeting.
According to him the directive is aimed at displaying
transparency in CEPS operations as well as solving public
complains about disparities in prices of models of vehicles
of the same models.
He said CEPS has streamlined its operations to meet
standards and eliminate fraudulent deals such as forgery,
corruption and diversion of cargo especially those in
transit, documentation and clearance of goods and the
general operations in order to facilitate trade
transactions.
Among them are the installations of Satellite Monitoring
Tracking System on haulage trucks and at vantage points like
Accra, Tema and Paga, which would be extended to other parts
of the country as well as electronic devices in its
documentation.
The modern system has replaced the previous human escort of
haulage trucks to their various destinations.
As a result, CEPS has entered into agreement with La Cote d’
Ivoire to commission a satellite monitoring facility at
strategic places in their country to check malpractices like
diversion of goods.
The Assistant Commissioner explained that the facility has
been programmed in such a way that any malpractice detected
would to be hooked on all the devices at their respective
installations, to inform personnel to take action.
To facilitate trade operations, Mr Yankyera hinted that
feasibility studies are also underway to connect the major
exit points of the country as well as the Ministries,
Departments and Agencies to the CEPS trade net to access
information on goods.
Mr Yankyera called on importers and exporters to comply with
customs rules and regulations, by fulfilling their tax
obligations and declaring correct information on their goods
to enable them to pay the appropriate tax and duties,
warning that, evasion of tax attracts huge penalty.
He said for exhibiting honesty and sincerity in tax
declaration some 146 manufacturing companies are not
subjected to serious examination of their goods however,
periodically random checks are conducted and urged others to
emulate them.
He advised against smuggling of goods into the country,
saying that, most smuggled items, especially drugs, do not
meet the required certified standards and therefore have the
tendency to create health problems.
Management of pharmacy shops are also entreated to buy their
stock from the required sources “to ensure safety of our
health”.
During an open forum, Madam Pamela Dankwa, Director of
Britannia Freight Services called on the CEPS to make the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) requirements on trade public,
to get businesses informed on the contents to guide their
transactions.
The members called for the sealing of all loopholes by CEPS
to make the business at the port more attractive.
Talking on combating HIV/AIDS at the workplace, Dr Adriana
Ignea, Programme Officer of Ghana Business Coalition Against
HIV/AIDS, said there was the need to intensify public
education at work places, since the disease was claiming the
productive youth, to the detriment of development.
GNA
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