These dismissed workers were engaged by customs house agents and given the leeway to continue the very acts that led to their dismissal, Mr. Sampson Hammond, Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Finance and Corporate Planning at CEPS, told journalists in Accra on Wednesday. Mr. Hammond, who was briefing the journalists on measures to enhance revenue collection, therefore cautioned freight forwarders of the consequences that awaited them with regard to their businesses.

"Such ex-officers of CEPS are nullified by law to be certified as proficient to operate as customs house agents in spite of their knowledge in customs operations."

According to Mr. Hammond, the Service had received a lot of negative comments and remarks from the general public, but CEPS believed that the comments were made in ignorance; hence it had embarked on an educational campaign.

The campaign is aimed at imparting in public or traders the right knowledge about CEPS and their work and the requirements expected from the public when dealing with the Service. Speaking about their work, Mr. Hammond said the CEPS collected about 55 per cent of total national revenue which was made up of import, VAT and other agency levies and fees.

However, a huge chunk of expected revenue is lost through leakages from various means, including abuse of transit trade.

The Deputy Commissioner said some arrests carried out recently revealed that Ghanaians had resorted to describing goods meant for home consumption as transit trading in order to avoid the payment of import duties.

Some of the tricks are to consign goods to known foreign names in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali or use their names through the foreign names.

The importers also forge Ghanaian transit stickers and attempt to smuggle goods out of the port, avoid scanning and front for goods in transit and assist foreigners to evade taxes.

Mr. Hammond said some of the transit goods had been traced to popular markets in the country, and evidence of this had led to the arrest of 20- and 40-footer containers in Tema and some vehicle parts currently parked at the CEPS headquarters.

He said other importers are also taking advantage of the ECOWAS protocol of free movement of goods and services to bring in vehicles through Togo.

The vehicles are meant to return to Togo after 90 days of stay, but this has become an avenue for Ghanaians to bring in vehicles through Lome or through unapproved routes in order to evade import duties, Mr Hammond said.

He noted that the abuse of temporary importation is rampant at the eastern and western frontiers saying, "unfortunately, these vehicles are fraudulently registered at DVLA." Mr. Hammond therefore urged the management of the DVLA to start using the CEPS database GCNet system to help check such acts.

Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said the Ministry is interested in getting what it is entitled to and would therefore support CEPS.

He said the ministry is aware of the conditions of CEPS officials, especially those at the border towns and that enhanced revenue would enable them to improve their conditions.