Ghana Link rejects claims linking ICUMS to fuel supply disruptions

Ghana Link Network Services Ltd., operators of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), has rejected claims circulating in the media that the platform was responsible for disruptions in fuel distribution, insisting that the system remained fully operational throughout the period in question.

The company said the allegations, attributed to Star Oil Company Ltd, suggested that ICUMS had been down since March 6, preventing oil marketing companies (OMCs) from lifting petroleum products for distribution to filling stations. According to Ghana Link, the claims are “false, misleading and wholly without basis.”

In a statement issued in Accra on March 9, the company said the ICUMS platform had continued to operate normally and that stakeholders had been able to process transactions without interruption during the period cited in the reports.

“The ICUMS platform has remained fully operational, including throughout the period referenced in the said statement,” the company said, adding that at no point had the system experienced the kind of outage alleged.

ICUMS is the digital trade facilitation platform used by customs authorities, importers and other stakeholders to process cargo and trade-related transactions at the country’s ports. The system forms part of the modernisation of border management and customs procedures under the oversight of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

Following the circulation of the allegations, Ghana Link said it conducted internal monitoring and engaged with the National Petroleum Authority to verify the source of the operational challenges cited by oil marketing companies.

The company said the checks indicated that the difficulties affecting petroleum product lifting were not linked to ICUMS but rather to the enterprise relational database management system operated by the petroleum regulator.

“Our checks indicate that the operational challenge in question does not relate to ICUMS, but rather to the enterprise relational database management system of the National Petroleum Authority,” the statement said.

Ghana Link expressed disappointment at what it described as unsubstantiated claims that risked undermining confidence in a critical national trade platform.

The company said the allegations had the effect of misinforming the public and unfairly casting doubt on the integrity and reliability of the ICUMS system, which is used daily by multiple stakeholders across the country’s trade and logistics sector.

Ghana Link called on Star Oil to withdraw the statement and issue an unqualified public apology for placing what it described as false and misleading information in the public domain.

“We therefore call on Star Oil to immediately withdraw the statement and issue an unqualified public apology for putting false and misleading information into the public domain,” it said.

The company said it remains committed to maintaining high standards of operational reliability, transparency and stakeholder support in the management of the ICUMS platform.

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