Customs officers at the Akanu-Noepe Joint Border Post have appealed for increased logistical support, including the provision of shelters at unapproved routes and the deployment of additional personnel to enhance border security and revenue collection.
Base Commander, Chief Revenue Officer Thelma Enyonam Dotse, expressed concern that inadequate staffing and logistics are undermining effective border operations.
“We’re understaffed; we need more officers to be able to man all the approved routes,” she said.
Madam Dotse made the appeal during a visit by a delegation from the Pan African Parliament on Friday, October 31, noting that the challenge continues to affect customs operations and the monitoring of goods entering and exiting the country.
Meanwhile, a member of the Customs and Immigration Trade Committee of the Pan African Parliament and Namibian MP, Rodney Cloete, has urged African countries to remove trade barriers and strengthen cooperation to boost intra-African trade.
He emphasised that the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) depends on countries’ willingness to work together to eliminate internal restrictions.
“We need to be much more agile and open to trading with each other in sharing the economic prosperity within the continent, and stop looking outside. Nobody is coming to save us; we need to save ourselves as Africans,” he said
He praised Ghana for its leadership role in advancing regional integration, noting that hosting the AfCFTA Secretariat places the country in a strategic position to drive the continent’s trade agenda.
“There’s a political will in Ghana to push for Pan-African spirits, where leaders want Africans to come together. Ghana, having a history of pan-Africanism, is the ideal country to lead us forward in making sure we come together,” he remarked.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
