Ghana Link Network Services in collaboration with Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) have begun another round of refresher training for users of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS).
The training which is currently ongoing in the Northern part of Ghana is expected to cover Northern, Savannah, and Upper East regions, equipping all stakeholders especially Customs officials and freight forwarders in the designated area.
A statement issued by the company in Accra yesterday said after almost four months of deployment nationwide, the ICUMS Implementation Committee and Ghana Link, the technical services provider put together the training programme to help retrain and update stakeholders using the system on enhancements and new additions.
The training which kickstarted on Monday at the Tamale collection of the Customs Division of GRA office will cover all regimes within Customs and after the Northern part of Ghana will be taken to all other Customs collections and freight forwarders operational areas in Ghana.
The Chairman of the ICUMS implementation team and also the Sector Commander of James Town Collections of Customs Division of GRA, AC Emmanuel Ohene who spoke to the media disclosed that, the refresher training had become necessary to help update and also bring users of the ICUMS up to speed with new developments in the system.
“We are doing this to introduce new initiatives to both Customs and freight forwarders, educate especially Customs officers on the new decentralisation drives in ICUMS. We are currently spending 10 days in the Northern part of Ghana and will move to other areas of the country,” he said.
He said “We will share new dates and times of the other areas with the stakeholders as soon as they are set.”
He added that the training had become necessary as the Customs officers operating the ICUMS needed to have their skills sharpen to help reduce the turnaround time and more importantly help the government to achieve its target of improving its performance on the ease of doing business ranking by the World Bank in the area of customs operations.
The team from Tamale will be visiting Tatale, Yendi, Bunkprugu, Wonjuga all in the Northern and North East regions and from there, head to Bolga, Paga, Kulungugu and Pulimakom in the Savannah and Upper East regions to train personnel and other stakeholders before heading down south.
BY TIMES REPORTER
