GRA Boss insists Publican AI system is improving trade efficiency, not slowing operations

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Anthony Sarpong, has dismissed claims that the new Publican AI system is slowing down trade at Ghana’s ports, insisting instead that it is improving efficiency and speeding up customs processes.

Speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show, Mr. Sarpong said the system has significantly reduced the time required to process import declarations compared to the previous manual method.

“We don’t agree that Publican is slowing trade. We believe Publican is speeding it up,” he stated.

He explained that under the old manual system, customs officers could spend hours reviewing declarations, whereas the new system completes the same process in a fraction of the time. “In the manual system we had, it took about two hours. Now with Publican doing that work for the officer, it takes about five minutes,” he said.

Mr. Sarpong acknowledged that the system faced initial implementation challenges but noted that such issues were expected during the rollout phase.

He revealed that early use of the system exposed discrepancies amounting to about US$3 billion, largely due to errors in classification and valuation. According to him, importers and agents were initially asked to correct their own entries, but many struggled with the process.

“At the beginning, we realised that importers and agents themselves were struggling to correct it. Previously, customs officers would do it for them when they saw errors,” he explained.

To address the bottlenecks, he said the Authority adjusted its approach by allowing customs officers to assist in correcting errors, after which importers could review and approve the changes. This, he noted, has helped resolve the delays.

Mr. Sarpong also addressed concerns about the appeals process, clarifying that it remains fully operational and available 24 hours a day.

“We have what we call an appeal team. That is in the system and fully activated,” he said, adding that ongoing engagement with stakeholders has helped resolve misunderstandings about its operation.

He further disclosed that an additional review layer, described as a “Supreme Court” mechanism within the system, has been introduced to handle unresolved disputes after the appeals stage.

Mr. Sarpong said earlier challenges led to twice-daily meetings to address backlogs, but these have now reduced as the system stabilises. He added that the number of cases escalated for higher review has also significantly decreased.

According to him, the system has even helped identify and correct errors made by customs officers in some instances.

“In one case, we admitted that the error was from the customs officer, and therefore the importer was right. We appealed in favour of the importer,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the early challenges have been resolved and assured importers that such issues are unlikely to recur as the system continues to stabilise.