President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Eddy Akrong, has called for the strict enforcement of the law that bars foreigners from engaging in the customs brokerage business.
Section 43 of Act 891 of the Customs Law of 2015, states that a company or partnership shall not engage in the business of custom house agents unless that company or partnership is wholly owned by an indigenous Ghanaian and has been granted a license by the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Despite the existence of this law, GIFF says it was getting frustrated by the increasing number of foreigners engaged in customs house business at the ports.
“The law is explicit on that and it must be implemented as such,” he said on GPHA’s Eye on Port programme.
“Freight forwarding is an international profession, so there isn’t a hold on that. Be it shipping, warehousing, transport. However, the law is specific on the brokerage business,” Mr. Akrong added.
The GIFF boss said Ghana cannot afford to cede the custom house business, which is responsible for employing hundreds of Ghanaian youths to foreigners, and thus should be treated as a national security issue.
“Off the top of my head I can name indigenous companies such as Bajfreight, CONSHIP and McDan among others, who employ not less than 300-400 people each. We cannot allow these businesses to go away,” he indicated.