In an effort to eliminate costly bottlenecks at Ghana’s ports of entry, senior Customs officials, under the leadership of Aaron Kanor, and logistics experts are advocating for a shift toward mandatory pre-arrival documentation vetting and heightened corporate oversight over clearing agents.
The push comes as the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) revealed that recurring clerical blunders, ranging from misstated vehicle chassis numbers to mismatched invoices, continue to trigger unnecessary delays, post-clearance audits, and financial penalties for Ghanaian businesses.
Shift From Reactive to Proactive Port Clearance
Delivering a keynote address at a joint UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC) and PwC Ghana trade seminar, Rubben Kwaku Satu, Esq., Supervisor at the Customs Technical Services Bureau (CTSB), urged commercial importers to overhaul their clearance workflows long before cargo reaches Ghanaian shores.
“Pass the declaration before the goods arrive,” Mr. Satu urged trade executives. “It will ensure that every contestation, anomaly or mistake will be corrected before the goods arrive. As a business owner, get involved in the clearance process. That is the only way errors will be minimised and you’ll get value for money.”
Mr. Satu emphasized that delegating import declarations entirely to third-party clearing agents without internal corporate verification often leads to preventable claims rejections, particularly regarding preferential tariffs under trade deals like AfCFTA.
“These documentation errors or compliance errors, when minimised, ensure that Customs is efficient for businesses,” he added. “Study the declarations received from your agent and ensure all anomalies are corrected before cargo arrives.”
Freight Industry Backs Administrative Accountability
Logistics operators have aligned with Customs on the necessity of document precision, citing administrative errors as the single greatest barrier to rapid cargo release.
Ebenezer Agawu, Operations Manager at Consolidated Shipping Agencies Ltd., affirmed during the panel that operational efficiency requires compliance discipline from importers at the point of origin.
“If you are able to present an accurate document, that should actually enhance the facilitation of Customs procedures and other agencies without any difficulty,” Mr. Agawu stated.
To further accelerate trade flow, Customs officials are advising high-volume importers to adopt advance rulings on tariff classifications and evaluate self-declaration frameworks to protect supply chains against unexpected port delays.
“For us to be efficient as Customs, it’s a shared responsibility between us and you,” Mr. Satu noted. “Help us to be efficient, so you also benefit as businesses.”
