GNA – President of the Chamber of Freight and Trade, Dennis Amfo-Sefah, is
calling President Akufo-Addo’s encouragement, to Ghana Link Network Services
Limited, which is deploying the UNIPASS software for the Administration of the country’s
Ports, as a humbling punch for critics of the new system.
Speaking exclusively
in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday, Mr.
Amfo-Sefah said the President’s encouragement was a signal to the few critics
of the system, to shut up.
“The President’s
encouragement to Ghana Link is telling, giving the timing. It came at a time
that the few detractors of the new system were all over the media crusading
against this masterstroke innovation.
“Hopefully, now that
the President has spoken, the detractors will shut up and let us have a
peaceful roll out of the new system,” Mr. Amfo-Sefah said.
His take is in
reference to the fact that President Akufo-Addo met the Ghana Link officials and encouraged them
to set up their software system in such a way that it would have no loopholes
susceptible to people who want to continue swindling the State at its Ports.
The software system
being deployed by Ghana Link, is the UNIPASS system, which will govern
Government’s paperless administration of the Ports around the country.
Supporters of the
system point out that it would throw out the human element in Port
Administration which often bred corruption and unnecessary bureaucracy.
However, the few
detractors of the system claim that scrapping the existing customs and Ports
technology would rather make revenue suffer.
“I don’t get how
these people opposed to UNIPASS come to this conclusion that the new single
window governed by UNIPASS will rather make revenue suffer. The new system will
put a single window under the thumb of the Ghana Revenue Authority so that
tracking of all revenue at the ports will just be a matter of clicks, so how is
this rather going to make it difficult to track revenue?” Dennis Amfo-Sefah
said.
He added that the
few number of the detractors and the intransigence of their argument made him
to suspect that those kicking against the new system were agents fronting for
the companies that operated the old largely manual system.
“There have been
allegations that the detractors have vested interest, I have refused to believe
this, but sometimes you just can’t help, but wonder if the detraction is not
motivated by personal greed.” He said.
Mr. Amfo-Sefah, who
has long said that Freight Forwarders were
agreeable to the new system thanked the President for encouraging the
deployment of the new system and called on Ghana Link to rump up efforts to
deploy the new system.
GNA