The President of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG), Samson Asaki Awingobit, has raised concerns over delays at Ghana’s ports, saying the situation is imposing huge financial burdens on importers.
According to him, prolonged delays in clearing containers result in importers incurring significant container storage and rent charges while they wait for their goods to be processed.
Speaking on Bullet Business with Karen Antwi Dodoo, Mr. Awingobit also criticised the handling of containers after goods are discharged, particularly the requirement for containers to be returned to different ports.
He argued that containers should be returned to the same ports from which they were collected to prevent further delays and additional costs.
He further accused some Customs officers of deliberately subjecting containers to red-channel inspections, which he said contributes to long queues and delays in the clearance process.
“Customs officers deliberately make every container red for inspection, leaving importers waiting in queues for clearance,” Mr. Awingobit alleged.
He called for reforms to improve efficiency at the ports and reduce the additional costs businesses incur due to delays.
Mr. Awingobit also expressed concern about Ghana’s dependence on foreign-owned shipping vessels, arguing that the country is losing opportunities to build capacity in the maritime sector.
“As we speak, no Ghanaian owns a ship in the country. All the ships bringing goods to Ghana are owned by foreigners,” he said.
Beyond port operations, the IEAG President criticised what he described as Ghana’s growing dependence on imports, particularly goods from China, while exports remain comparatively weak.
“Ghana has opened its gateway for the Chinese to flood the country with goods,” he said.
He maintained that Ghana has the potential to earn billions of dollars from exports if adequate attention is given to production and export development.
“If Ghana is serious, we should be able to generate billions of dollars from export proceeds,” Mr. Awingobit said.
He accused successive governments of paying insufficient attention to export promotion, warning that the imbalance between imports and exports could continue to hurt the economy.
“We are swamped with imports rather than exports because the government is only paying lip service,” he stated.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Mavis Fantevi
