Report by Ben LARYEA
As part of the effort to enhance Ghana’s trade environment, strengthen customs administration, promote transparency and protect national revenue, Government in this regard introduced the “Publican Artificial Intelligence System” at the country’s ports but challenge still remains.
It is for this reason that the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG) has called on government as a matter of urgency to address the delays in the review and resolution of valuation disputes to avoid unnecessary demurrage and business disruptions at the ports.
Secondly, government must also put in place the needed mechanisms to address unexpected fluctuations in duty assessments for similar consignments imported at different times and undertake continuous calibrations of the valuation database to ensure consistency and accuracy.
Furthermore, IEAG have tasked the Ministry of Finance, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Customs Freight Forwarders, Ghana Shippers Authority and other players in the industry to periodically engaged in discussions and consultations as part of the drive to improve upon the Publican AI system in relations to merging trends and best practices.
The IEAG in addition have appealed for periodic training for custom officers, freight forwarders, clearing agents among others to ensure a clear understanding and application of the Publican AI platform to build their respective capacities in line with the newly introduced AI system which came fully operational at the country’s port on 12th of March,2026
These came to light during a press conference organized by the IEAG addressed by the
Executives Secretary, Mr. Samson Asaki Awingobit saying inspite of these challenges the Publican Association AI system has brought to bear a transparent and responsive mechanism for resolving valuation disputes.
The Association however recommends that government must continue to invest in improving the Publican AI system through regular software updates and data refinement and strengthen the Appeals Secretariat to guarantee quicker resolution of disputes as well as deepen stakeholders with trading community.
He said government must fervently integrate more international pricing database to improve valuation accuracy and regularly publish implantation performance reports to build confidence among others to continue using technology to eliminate opportunities for corruption, revenue leakages and arbitrary customs valuation.
“We therefore call on the relevant authorities to urgently address the challenges of container congestion, port security and digital services disruptions”, he said, and urged all stake holders to collectively work together towards building a friendly business and trade environment for economic growth and development.
