Transit cargo drivers stranded at Tema Port
Scores of transit cargo drivers have been left stranded at the Tema Port over the past three weeks following their inability to get their trucks fixed with electronic cargo tracking devices by officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
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The devices, which are supplied to the Customs Division by Magnate Ghana Limited and the Ghana Community Network Services (GCNet), are said to be in short supply.
The devices are used by Customs officials to remotely monitor the security of container cargoes while in transit from Ghana to neighbouring Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali to ensure that the containers are not diverted onto the Ghanaian market.
The delay in the supply of the devices has made it difficult for the trucks to depart for their destinations, causing an artificial congestion at the loading points at the main port.
Challenges
The Trade and Industry Minister, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, and the Transport Minister, Mr Fifi Kwetey, on Thursday visited the port to assess the situation and while there they assured the drivers’ union that the challenges would be resolved.
“The concerns raised by the drivers’ union are legitimate and we intend to look into them to ensure that the number of devices are increased to cater for the high demand,” Mr Spio-Garbrah said.
The drivers’ union was, however, livid at the manner in which the two ministers engaged the union in relation to the issue.
Querying the rationale for the visit, which lasted about 40 minutes, the Assistant Public Relations Officer of the union, Alhaji Madi Babamu said the two ministers could have made the engagement more meaningful by listening to all parties.
He also lamented about the preferential treatment offered drivers from Burkina Faso when Ghanaian drivers were often taken through all manner of ill-treatment in that country.
The Chairman of the union, Alhaji Baba Abdallai, reiterated that Burkinabe officials had suspended the implementation of the decree on the loading document, popularly called “bon de chargement”, covering transit cargoes from Ghana.
He noted that in spite of several engagements with that country by the Ghana government, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, drivers ferrying goods to Burkina Faso were still being made to pay the excess fee.
Writer’s email: della.russel@gmail.com