Veep Dr. Bawumia Pays Surprise Visit To Tema Port
Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, once again paid a surprise visit to the Tema Port, to familiarise himself with the operations of the port, and acquaint himself with the challenges stakeholders face.
The Tema Port, a major backbone of the country’s revenue collection efforts, generating a significant percentage of annual domestic revenue, has a new Chief Executive Officer.
The Tema Collection Point of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) missed its 2016 target, mobilizing GHȼ7,334,174,613.10 against a target of GHȼ7,690.380.000.00. The shortfall was 4.63 percent.
The Director of Ports, Jacob Kwabla Adorkor and officials of the Customs Division including sector commander, Confidence Nyadzi took Dr. Bawumia round the place to observe the operations of the Nick TC Scan, Meridian Port Services (MPS), Golden Jubilee Car park, State Warehouse, and Atlas Copco, among others.
The Vice President also interacted with Clearing Agents, workers at the Port, security and other officers, and ordinary Ghanaians anxious to clear their goods on time.
He inspected seized goods stored in the State warehouse, including mattresses, fridges and other materials barred from importation.
Commenting on the tour, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that, the Akufo-Addo government would take steps to consolidate some of the functions at the port that interface with the public in order to reduce the frustrations of agents and port users, while plugging any revenue leakages.
This is the second time Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has paid an unannounced visit to a key government facility since assuming office.
On January 18, 2017, Dr. Bawumia visited the Registrar General’s Department to identify the bottlenecks bedeviling the State outfit and also interacted with owners of businesses and Ghanaians who had gone to the Department to register their businesses.
"I interacted with members of staff as well as some members of the public who had come there to transact business,' he said, adding that, 'the visit was aimed at obtaining first hand information on operations at the port.
Being acquainted with operations at the port will help the gov't to make the institution more attractive for business transactions.'
GBC