By Julian Owusu-Abedi
Ghana Link Network Services Ltd in collaboration with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) have begun another round of refresher training for users of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS).
The training which is currently ongoing in the Northern part of Ghana is expected to cover Northern, Savanah, and Upper East Regions, equipping all stakeholders especially Customs Officials and the freight forwarders in the designated area.
After almost 4 months of deployment nationwide, the ICUMS implementation Committee and Ghana Link the technical services provider put together the training programme to help retrain and update stakeholders using the system on enhancements and new additions.
The training which kick started on Monday October 19, 2020 at the Tamale collection of the Customs – Division of GRA office is to cover all regimes within customs and after the Northern part of Ghana will be taken to all other customs collections and Freight forwarders operational areas in Ghana.
The Chairman of the ICUMS implementation team and also the Sector Commander of James Town Collections of Customs – Division of GRA AC Emmanuel Ohene who spoke to the media disclosed that, the refresher training has become necessary to help update and also bring users of the ICUMS up to speed with new developments in the system.
“We are doing this to introduce new initiatives to both customs and freight forwarders, educate especially Customs officers on the new decentralization drives in ICUMS. We are currently spending 10days in the Northern part of Ghana and will move to other areas of the country.”
“We will share new dates and times of the other areas with the stakeholders as soon as they are set,” he said.
He added that the training had become necessary as the customs officers operating the ICUMS needed to have their skills sharpen to help reduce the turnaround time and more importantly help the government to achieve its target of improving its performance on the ease of doing business ranking by the World Bank in the area of customs operations.
The team from Tamale will be visiting Tatale, Yendi, Bunkprugu, Wonjuga all in the Northern and North East Regions and from there, head to Bolga, Paga, Kulungugu and Pulimakom in the Savanah and Upper East regions to train personnel and other stakeholders before heading down south.
Other members of the ICUMS implementation team that travelled with the Chairman AC Emmanuel Ohene were Messrs S. Owusu Ansah, Jalil Abdulrahman and Dixon Kodua all of Customs. Messrs J. Agbaga and Johnny Mantey both Giff members on the ICUMS implementation team to help in addressing the concerns and questions that may come up during the training and engagements with the stakeholders.
