Western Regional Minister tours border town

• Posted on May 17, 2019May 17, 2019
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The various security agencies at the Elubo border are collaborating to ensure maximum security at the Elubo enclave in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region. 

Mr. Edward Osei, Assistant Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Service (GRA) and Sector Commander at the Elubo border, disclosed this when the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, visited the border town. The visit was part of the regional minister’s two-day working visit to the Jomoro Municipality. 

Mr. Osei indicated that the effort of any single border security agency would be futile in dealing with border challenges. He mentioned that these days, crimes had become sophisticated in nature, adding “so it is difficult for a single organization to handle the challenges that confront us in terms of border management”.

He said, “… We collaborate with the Ghana Immigration Service and other security agencies and stakeholders at the border to ensure the achievement of total security of goods and persons. We share intelligence to enable us deal with issues such as terrorism, smuggling and check inflow of goods and services”. 

He also mentioned that efforts were currently ongoing to block all unapproved routes at the border posts.

Benchmark Value

The Assistant Commissioner of Customs described the reduction of the benchmark port value as a fantastic policy the government had rolled out. “The results are positive and we hope it will help increase revenue into the national kitty”, he said.

He indicated that the issue of inadequate staff at his outfit used to be a problem but the posting of some personnel of the Nation Builders Corps had addressed the challenge.

For his part, Mr. Darko-Mensah said the ‘Ghana beyond aid’ policy of the government could be achieved with improved revenue by the various revenue mobilization agencies.

He appealed to importers to let the reduction of the benchmark value reflect in the pricing of their products to benefit the final consumers.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Elubo