The Coalition of Concerned Exporters, Importers, Traders and Freight Forwarders has threatened industrial action unless the government suspends the implementation of the Publican AI tool used by the Ministry of Finance and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for customs valuation and tariff classification at the country’s ports.
The group said the system’s rollout is flawed and could unfairly increase the cost of doing business, warning that it is prepared to act to protect its members.
Speaking on Citi Eyewitness News on 2 April, the coalition’s convenor, Michael Obiri-Agyei, expressed concern over how customs officials are applying the tool.
According to him, officers have been instructed to compare their own assessments with those generated by the AI system, but must adopt the AI valuation when it is higher, and rely on their own assessment when it exceeds the AI’s figure. He described this approach as unfair to traders, cautioning that it could distort pricing and undermine confidence in the port system.
The coalition emphasised that it is not opposed to the use of technology, but said its implementation must be fair, transparent, and reflective of the realities of the trading environment.
Mr Obiri-Agyei called on the government to suspend the programme and engage stakeholders to review and refine the system for a more balanced outcome.
He further alleged that the rollout was rushed, with limited training provided to customs officers, raising concerns about its consistency and effectiveness. He also cited valuation discrepancies, noting instances where similar goods received vastly different assessments. The group has given the government until after Easter to halt the system, warning that failure to act will trigger a nationwide sit-down strike.
“There are two BoEs (Bill of Entry), same commodity on the two different BoEs. One BoE has two containers and another has one container. It would interest you to know that the BoE that had one container, the value that was given to it was 500,000 and the one that had two containers was given a value of 100,000 so where is the parity? That is one of the fundamental issues that we were raising. They should halt the process.
“We as citizens and business owners have legal means of protecting our economy too. One of the options is that we can go on a sit down,” he said.
SOURCE: CITINEWSROOM
