By: Thaimu Bai Sesay
The Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agency represented by its president, has praised the Parliament of Sierra Leone for stepping in and assuring to institute stronger actions against shipping lines, which have been engaging in extortive and illegal shipping processes and transactions.
The president for the Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agency Mohamed Antony Salia expressed his satisfaction through an exclusive interview with a cross-section of Parliament Journalists. This commendation came shortly after a meeting that was held by the Parliamentary Overnight Committee on Transportation and Aviation with the shipping lines and the Association for Clearing and Forwarding Agency, on Wednesday 14th August 2024, at Room 1 Parliament building.
The meeting held by the Committe on Transport and Aviation on the above date was chaired by Hon. Bashiru Silike, Deputy Leader of Government Business and of the Majority, considering the significance of the issue raised. The Committe was able to establish that the shipping lines had been extorting the people of Sierra Leone by making illegal increments of container prices at the water quay.
“We know and communication has been sent to us that what they are collecting as VGM and what they are invoicing as shipping lines are 15 dollars per 20ft and 30 dollars per 40ft. However, they are collecting 40 and 45 dollars instead of 30 and 20 and 25 dollars as moriage VGM. These are some of the reasons that are making it difficult for our people. So in our next meetings we are calling individual shipping lines as we don’t recognize your association,” the Hon. Leader Bashiru Silike disclosed.
The Hon. Leader Silike acting as Chairman, promised the chipping lines that in their subsequent meetings, they would painstakingly look at all of the resources the shipping lines had collected, informing them that it was why the Committee earlier asked for their banks statements. The Acting Chairman furthered that they as a Parliament would review all the shipping lines transfer charges and all other monies they had collected on VGM that had not been transferred. Hon. Bashiru Silike also clarified that the shipping lines supposed to collect and give back, adding that the monies are not theirs’ and as such they should not add charges and make profile out of those monies.
Making their position known as the complainants who brought the issue to Parliament due to non-compliance on the legal procedures, the president of the Association of Clearing and Forwarding on behalf of the association expressed their satisfaction with the ruling of Parliament through the relevant Committee. As custom brokers, president Salia highlighted the intermediary relationship of the association for all service providers including the shipping lines and the importers. He reinforced how they had been engaging with the shipping lines regarding the illegal excessive price imposed and unnecessary delays but said due to non-compliance they had no option but to further escalate the matter to Parliament.
“We must say kudos to the Acting Chairman and Deputy Leader of Government Business and the Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Aviation for the passion and commitment showed on the matter. What we witnessed today was a good thing as we had coming to Parliament four – five years back. We demand that Parliament serve justice to the people of Sierra Leone for all the monies that had been extorted from them. We want Parliament to push harder on those resolutions and ensure that these shipping lines pay back the money to the people of Sierra Leone,” president Salia of the Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agency expressed.
The Clearing and Forwarding Agency Association president furthered that if those resolutions are strictly being aligned and implemented, it would yield a very good thing, as he opined that it would help the Ministry of Trade and Industry to stabilize prices in the country. He considered the ruling of Parliament during the meeting as a victory not only to the association but also to the business people of Sierra Leone. He expressed optimism that if a good ruling is given on the matter, it would help to easily predict prices of commodities, as he stated that Sierra Leone is the only country where an importer could not predict what would be the total cost of clearing his/her container, saying it is bad in business.
In his conclusion, president Salia of the Clearing and Forwarding Agency Association assured that they had been working on couple of reforms to be soon rolled out. He assured that they would very impactful in advising the business community on how to go about and get the correct custom brokers. He used the opportunity to strongly advise the importers as he had been doing not to go and ask random custom brokers about prices to pay and clear a container, adding that such a practice would contribute in defrauding the state.
“When you come with your invoice, give it to an agent to and log it in the ASICUDAWorld, process your invoice and tell you the right amount to pay. When you want to pay for a handling company, also allow the agent to go to the handling company and pay,” he advised.
