The tour is to enable members of the team, led by Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Dentu, to familiarise themselves with the operations of the company and to perform export readiness diagnosis and penetration strategies to the vast ECOWAS market.

The diagnosis would inform GEPA about the type of support the Authority could offer the local company and the export oriented strategies needed to launch it into the export market.  The team had a fruitful discussion with the General Manager on the organization’s ecosystem and the inherent challenges hindering their operations.

Notable amongst the myriads of challenges raised were duties on imports on Completely Knockdown (CKD), that is fully disassembled items, lack of defined protocol for clearing CKD on non-labelled parts and the general lack of incentives for the manufacturing concern.

Kantanka contends that payment of duties on their cars, although manufactured in Ghana, is as a result of the duty charged on the imported components.The CKD, in line with the ECOWAS CET, attracts a duty of five per cent, excluding VAT, NHIS and other taxes such as special levy, ECOWAS/EXIM.

The company said a waiver of the taxes on the inputs would have a significant effect on the prices of their vehicles.  One other issue that hinders and delays the company’s operations is the lack of clearly defined protocols at the ports to enable them to clear imported CKD components, leading to unnecessary delays.

The company urged the GRA (Customs Division) to institute a well-defined protocol to assist the firm clear its inputs on time and without the payment of demurrage charges.  The company said although government needed revenue to undertake projects, indigenous enterprises such as Kantanka Automobile should be given all the necessary support and incentives to be able to grow and be competitive globally.

On the part of GEPA, the Deputy CEO, Mr Sam Dentu, was impressed with the work at the manufacturing unit.  He reiterated the fact that GEPA, as the national organisation mandated to develop and promote exports, would provide all the requisite support within its mandate to lead Kantanka into the Sub-regional market and other markets.

The firm was further counselled to register with the Authority and begin the process of registering for the Certificate on ECOWAS Protocol on Free Trade (thus ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme – ETLS).

Discussions revealed that efforts at various levels of government are being undertaken to assist the firm to operate optimally and be competitive. The Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Finance and other parastatals are but a few of the bodies that have indicated their readiness to assist the firm.

Other members of the GEPA visiting team included Head of Services, Manufacturers and Petrochemicals and his team and the Public Relations Officer.