Although the donation was secured in March/April, the computers did not actually leave the US until July. I can only speculate about the cause of the delay, but it turned out to be a useful setback (sort of).

 

Because the computers are for a school, I went to the ministry of education to get an exemption on duties, taxes, and VAT. Actually, in Ghana education falls under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Sports, abbreviated MoESS because they recognize that using the acronym MESS would be silly. I submitted a bunch of paperwork (including something called a "bill of lading" from my shipping agent in New York) to the ministry. The ministry would write a cover letter and forward it all to the Ministry of Finance. Then Finance would write a letter to the VAT office. VAT would follow that with a letter to the customs authority, which, finally, would issue the exemption letter.

 

My contact at MoESS told me that this whole process would take a week. I laughed. "A week?!" I said to him, "Yeah, right. It probably takes you a week to put your pants on in the morning!" (I didn't really say that to him).

 

I gave it about a week and then called him. He said he would check on it and get right back to me. He didn't. So I called again the next day and pretty much the same thing happened. We repeated this process several times over the course of a month, and each time there was another excuse. "I'm out of the office. I'll call you later." "Let me check on that and get right back to you." "You'll have to speak up. I'm wearing a towel." Etc.

 

After about five weeks, I went to see him at his office. He insisted that the letter had gone to finance weeks ago. So, I went with one his subordinates to the appropriate office at finance. They had never received the letter, they claimed, and proved it by opening a composition book wherein the secretary keeps a handwritten log of all such requests they receive. Nothing says authority like a composition book, so that was that. Next we went to the office at MoESS that was supposed to have written a cover letter to finance. They too claimed to have never seen anything.

 

All of my paperwork had been lost. Apparently I spent weeks calling about nothing.

 

This was a frustrating setback, particularly since the computers had now left New York and were on their way to Ghana. If the exemption letter was not ready by the time the computers arrived, I would have to pay fees for storing them in the port until I had the letter.

 

So I started over. I called my new contact at MoESS almost daily. He would check on the progress by literally walking to the office at Finance and asking the secretary. After just a few days, she had typed the letter (it's a standard form letter), but the letter still needed her boss's signature. It took a week (a whole week) for him to sign this letter, and it would have taken longer if not for my new best friend at MoESS sitting in the finance office until 7:30 pm on a Friday holding the letter, waiting for it to be signed.

 

We similarly pestered the VAT and customs people, and to their credit, they acted rather quickly. Meanwhile, my shipping agent in New York emailed me to tell me that the computers would arrive in a matter of days. He also casually attached a new bill of lading to the email with some corrections. I hoped this would not present any problems.

 

Finally, I went to pick up the exemption letter from customs and saw that the old bill of lading number was featured prominently. I asked the customs official if they could correct the letter because I had a new bill of lading with a new number. No, I was told, because the letters from finance and from VAT also referenced the old bill of lading number so I would have to start from the beginning. But couldn't customs just issue a new letter and copy it to finance and VAT? Finance is a freakin' black hole! Please don't make me go back there! No, I was told, customs' slogan is something like "assume everyone is trying to commit fraud" and they need to be extra careful (actually, a second customs official interjected, that's no longer the slogan).

 

In addition to restarting the process, I would also have to go to the port and retrieve a copy of the now worthless exemption letter. Both the original and the copy sent to the port would have to be returned before I could get the new exemption letter.

 

Finance was, undoubtedly, thrilled to see me and my new best friend from MoESS again. But they were understanding of my situation and completed the letter (and signed it) that same afternoon.

 

The next week I took my exemption letter to the port to claim the copy. I have a contact there called a clearing agent. This is the person (or business) that "processes" the shipment and has the authority to remove items from the port. My clearing agent brought me to the appropriate customs office. We were told that no such letter had arrived. So I left the exemption letter with the clearing agent who said he would come get the letter for me. Three days later, I received a call from him. In fact, the original exemption letter is fine. The "corrected" bill of lading sent by my shipping agent had been a mistake.

 

In other words, my third round with the ministries had been for nothing.

 

The next day I went back to customs to confirm that the old letter was still "in the system" and would still be OK at the port. Yes, it still was. Finally, this confusing and frustrating process was finished. My computers were set to arrive and I would be able to bring them to my school without paying any taxes.

 

Or would I? Find out in the exciting final chapter of the Adventures in Importing Trilogy…