The President of the Association of Customs House Agents Ghana (ACHAG), Yaw Kyei has described the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) as the best Customs management system the country has ever had.
According to him, the processing time under ICUMS has seen significant improvements as goods are now cleared at the Ports within hours.
Speaking on Eye on Port to assess the first year of the implementation of ICUMS at the Ports, he said: “If you have the money sitting in your bank account and all your documents are ready you can pay the duty.
The major advantage the importer will have is that he or she will avoid the increment in the exchange rate,” he said.
He also lauded the electronic processing of documentation under the ICUMS as the best of its kind.
Yaw Kyei said the only challenge freight forwarders had with ICUMS at its initial stage was the transitional period which they believed could have been better organized.
He said the criticism from freight forwarders shouldn’t be misconstrued as being against the implementation of the ICUMS, but rather geared towards offering solutions to the initial challenges.
“We (freight forwarders) were not against ICUMS. ICUMS initially had challenges and we did our best to criticize, make suggestions and cooperate massively with them to see the system as we have now,” he said.