Policy Think-tank IMANI Africa says it feels vindicated following the embarrassing blowback in its attempt to supplant the Ghana Community Network (GC-Net) a with a Korean owned system UNI-PASS to take over Ghana’s port management services.
The move was instigated by Senior Minister Yaw Osafor Marfo, who imposed UNI-PASS on Ghana’s ports despite GCNET’s exclusive contract still valid till 2020.
“Mr. President, we believe your Senior Minister is undermining the valiant port reforms Dr. Bawumia pursued which brought significant revenues- Ghs5bn more since 2016 working with GCNET and WEST BLUE. This is not the time to play games with money,” IMANI’s Founder Franklin Cudjoe wrote in a statement issued today.
Earlier last week IMANI petitioned the President to “temporarily suspend operations of UNI-PASS and allow GCNET and West Blue to operate for the remainder of the year in order to assure the nation of revenues, most likely GHS10bn given depressed trade activity due to covid-19.”
IMANI also asked the government to conduct an independent review of the UNI-PASS system, but the Akufo Addo administration was adamant and went ahead to roll out the UNI-PASS system.
The rollout sparked confusion at the port when it turned out UNI-PASS did not have the capacity to handle the volume of trade at the ports as the country was made to believe.
“..We plead with the management and board of the GRA to stay resolute in their demands. Their professionalism and patriotism must count for something,” Franklin Cudjoe stated.
After replacing GC-Net with CUPIA Korea as the port management company of in vicious vandalism of GC-Net’s contract, GC-Net is back at the helm at the ports after it resumed operations this afternoon.
GC-Net returned to man the ports because the Akufo-Addo Government had to crawl back to it, cup-in hand to beg for GC-Net return, after CUPIA Korea and its local counterpart fouled up badly in their attempt to manage port services in the stead of GC-Net.
Interestingly, ahead of the monumental failure of the UNIPAS system, the company had been made to give presentations a number of times before it would be given the GC-Net contract and on all occasions, its presentation failed to live up to expectation.
In spite of that, Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo, who has a certain tendency to be involved in controversial contracts, including the Kroll Associate’s sweetheart deal, pushed it through.
This afternoon, the company returned to the Port management duties and immediately the clearing of goods began. The huge backlog of un-cleared goods from Monday however means, it will take up to next week to clear all the goods that need to be cleared.
Customers at the port have expressed their sense of relief following the resumption of work at the port, however, many wonder who is to be held responsible for extra taxes and demurrage costs that have arisen because their goods had been left un-cleared out of no fault of theirs.