Court strikes out West Blue case against government

Source: citifmonline.com - An Accra Fast Track Court has struck out the West Blue case brought against the government.

A private freight forwarder, Michael Kweku Djan was seeking an injunction to stop government from contracting West Blue Ghana limited to manage its single window policy.

The suit was premised on a May 12, 2015 letter from the Chief of Staff directing the Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper to solely engage the West Blue consulting for the purposes of the single window implementation project.

The plaintiff wanted the court to declare that “the single-sourcing of the National Single Window and Risk Management System Project in favour of West Blue Ghana Limited is a breach of Section 40 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).”

He also contended that West Blue could not claim to have exclusive expertise in providing Single Window services because the five Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) currently operating in Ghana, whose contracts would not be renewed after August, had all shown over their years of operation in Ghana that they possess practical expertise.

On Monday, the Attorney General (AG) challenged the jurisdiction of an Accra High Court to hear the case.

The case was subsequently adjourned to July 28 to allow the lawyer of the applicant to respond to the preliminary objection raised by the AG.

When they appeared in court on July 28, the court set Friday, July 31 to rule on the application to strike out the case and on Friday, it was struck out.

The government is solely engaging West Blue Consulting for the implement the single window project in Ghana.

The single-window system is a trade facilitation that enables cross-border traders to submit regulatory documents at a single location.

The documents include customs declarations, applications for import/export permits, and other supporting documents such as certificates of origin and trading invoices.

This is aimed at increasing the efficiency through time and cost savings for traders in their dealings with government authorities for obtaining the relevant clearance and permits for moving cargoes across national or economic borders.

But some industry players have kicked against the decision because according to them, the process under which West Blue was handpicked to implement this national single window platform was erroneous.

This informed Mr. Djan’s decision to sue the government over the matter.