By Saio Marrah
As a way of addressing the delay and increase in fees imposed for Cargo Handling and Clearing at the Queen Elizabeth II Quay in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister, Jacob Jusu Saffa, has in a Stakeholders Consultative Meeting said they will review policies geared towards simplifying and streamlining of goods cleared at the Port.
In a PowerPoint presentation at the Atlantic Hotel in Freetown on Tuesday 29th November, 2022, Saffa said the operations at the port have been compounded by increased perception of public dissatisfaction over the services offered by the port to citizens.
This he said was the reason President Julius Maada Bio instructed him to salvage the situation and noted that once the problem at the port is solved, 50% of cost of living on citizens will be addressed.
He said the review process will seek to address existing laws, policies, regulation and standard operating procedures that are applicable to the clearing process.
Saffa said as different actors of the industry overstep their duties, the review process will identify roles and responsibilities of all players and stakeholders engaged in the clearing process.
The review process he said will also focus on developing a better understanding of the current stage of the clearing of goods, including pre- clearing activities.
He said it will aim at identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and gaps in the clearing process and recommend measures for improvement.
The Chief Minister noted that the methodology will include the review of relevant documents including the mandate of relevant stakeholders, entities, laws, policies regulations and standard operating procedures governing the clearing process.
The essence of the involvement of the stakeholders in the review process he said was to solicit inputs from stakeholders on the clearing process and help shape the methodology of the review.
Among the challenges that were discovered were incorrect declaration of clearance document, falsification of clearance document, and absence of a clear service delivery charter by the respective agencies.
Duplication of roles and overcrowding, improper examination of procedures by customs for time and process and the unnecessary delay in the release of delivery order by shipping lines and exorbitant cost in the issue of delivery order were the other challenges discovered.
Lack of coordination between Sierra Leone Ports Authority and Customs, absence of customs officers during examination were also highlighted.
The President of the Sierra Leone Clearing and Forwarding, Mohamed Anthony Salia, informed journalists that the government should explicitly tell the custom officers about their responsibilities and limitations.
He said when delays come up then demurrage and rent charges increase.
Salia however thanked the National Revenue Authority for conducting examination for certification for whoever wants to become a clearing and forwarding agent. He described that as a reformation being brought to the industry.
The Minister of Transport and Aviation, Kabineh Kallon , in his short statement, called on the different stakeholders to be honest with themselves. He said most of the challenges happening there is as a result of selfishness.
He pointed out that even though there is law in place, clearing and forwarding agents make things difficult for consumers.
Other stakeholders also made similar observations in relation to the causes of the perennial problem at the port and hope that with the review, the problems will be mitigated.
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