- as Nick Danso Adjei adjudged Entrepreneur of the Year at Shippers Awards
The Deputy Minister of Transport, Frederick Obeng Adom, has revealed that government is taking action to find a lasting solution to shipper complaints – including arbitrary charges and unapproved exchange rates used by some service providers.
Mr. Obeng Adom, who spoke on behalf of the Transport Minister at the Ghana Shippers Awards fifth edition held on Friday, August 19, 2022 at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, disclosed that the ministry is currently putting in place new measures to ensure the complaints that come are dealt with immediately.
He pointed out that complaints regarding arbitrary charges and exchange rates used by some service providers is one issue that the ministry frowns on and is working frantically with stakeholders to understand their concerns, ensuring that the local cedi remains the only currency used in all transactions at Ghana’s ports.
“It is my fervent hope that consensus will be built to deal with these matters as quickly as possible, to help not only support your operations but also accelerate economic growth,” he said.
Meanwhile, on that night the Chairman of Ghana Link Network Services Ltd. (Ghana Link), Nick Danso Adjei, was awarded the night’s ultimate award as ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’.
The award is in recognition of Mr. Danso Adjei’s exemplary and visionary leadership in leveraging technology to automate the processes to facilitate trade and increase revenue for national development, and successfully leading his team at Ghana Link to steer implementation of the trade facilitation tool the Integrated Customs Management Systems ICUMS in Ghana.
This award is the second time that the Executive Chairman of Ghana Link has won a top award at the Ghana Shippers Awards. Last year, he won the Personality of the Year award for his exceptional leadership, vision, integrity and focus in continuously providing direction to deliver projects which directly impact on revenues and facilitate trade, while opening up Ghana for more trade and making the country the gateway to the West African sub-region when it comes to trade.
In an interview, Mr. Danso Adjei’s Ghana Link thanked organisers of the Awards, the Ghana Shipper’s Authority, for the recognition; and the entire trade community – especially the Ghana Revenue Authority GRA and its Customs Division, Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Association, Shipping Lines, GPHA, MPS and the entire business community – for their acceptance and roles in successfully implementing the Integrated Customs Management Systems ICUMS.
“I want to thank God for this award and recognition given me, and this I must say is something that gives me the urge to work even harder with my team at Ghana Link and Nick Scan. I am even more grateful to the trading community, especially GRA Customs Division, GPHA, Importers and Exporters, Freight Forwarders, Shipping Lines, MPS, MMDA’s and all other agencies who in one way or another have contributed to our success.”
He added that Ghana Link Network Services Ltd. is committed to improving the system’s processes to make it even more robust than it is today to help the Customs Division of GRA rake in more revenue for the nation’s development.
“Today, the job we have done in Ghana with the help of our stakeholders has been seen in the sub-region; and because of that, Gambia has called on Ghana Link Network Services Ltd. to come and deploy the ICUMS system in their country – which should reduce the turnaround time at the port and increase revenues generated at their ports of entry.”
Under the leadership of Mr. Danso Adjei, Ghana Link has begun to deploy phase-two of the ICUMS – like the E-Auction for the Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs Division and Domestic Tax Division) which aims to help auctioning processes be transparent and smooth; also, the company is expected to work with authorities at Kotoka Airport to deploy the Airport Passenger Information Systems, also known as the APIS.
Speaking at the awards, CEO-Ghana Shippers Authority, Benonita Bismarck, said her outfit will continue to promote and protect the interest of shippers while rewarding them for their efforts to smoothen import and export processes in Ghana.
