TRUCKLOADS of imported rice are still locked up at the Elubo Border, a week after the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) slashed the duty on the commodity from $0.97 per kilogramme to $0.75.
The tariff reduction was to pave the way for small-scale rice importers to clear thousands of bags of rice locked up at the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border.
With the directive not yet adhered to by customs officials, several bags of rice which have been heaped at the border for the past four weeks have started going bad due to excessive heat and intermittent rains.
At the time the Daily Graphic got to the border last Monday, more than 138 bags of rice that were emitting an offensive odour were being prepared for destruction.
The GRA, in apparent reaction to complaints over high tariffs by small-scale rice importers, on November 15, 2010 slashed the duty at the Elubo Border from $0.97 per kilogramme of rice to $0.75.
This was as a result of a meeting between officials of the GRA and local importers of rice at Elubo.
Border officials told the Daily Graphic that they had not complied with the directive from the GRA because they had not received any official communication from the Authority.
They said they needed official letters from the Commissioner General of the GRA and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to be able to comply with the directive.
“What happened at the meeting was just verbal. We would need an official fiat for us to go ahead,” one of the officers said.
Some of the importers told the Daily Graphic that they were at the verge of losing their capital.
When contacted, officials at the CEPS Headquarters in Accra said they were waiting for the directive from the Commissioner General before they could allow the goods to be cleared.
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