The governing board of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has been reconstituted with a task for the board to work closely with relevant institutions to block revenue leakages.
The Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam who inaugurated the new board chaired by Joe Ghartey, the Member of Parliament for Essikado Ketan in the Western Region said working closely with relevant institutions and stakeholders will help to reduce tax non-compliance and block revenue leakages.
According to the Minister, it was critical for the revenue generating institution to achieve its medium-term revenue targets of 18% to 20% tax/GDP ratio as well as meet all indicative targets and structural benchmarks related to revenue under the IMF programme.
Aside Joe Ghartey, who is a former Minister of Railway Development, other mebers of the board a deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Alex Ampaabeng, Commissioner-General for GRA, Ms Julie Essiam, a deputy Minister of Trade, Micheal Okyere Baafi, and the second deputy Governor for the Bank of Ghana, Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi.
The rest are Susan Akomea, Immediate Past Municipal Chief Executive of Asante Akyim Central and a Co-founding member of CENAB UK, Mrs Araba Bosomtwe, a Master of Public Administration (MPA) holder with international experience in handling high level administrative duties and Mr Kwabena Abankwah Yeboah, a fellow of the Ghana College of Pharmacists and also a board member of the ADB bank.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Amin Adam indicated that, by working closely with other relevant stakeholders, the new Board could effectively address the issues of alleged harassment of business owners, employ a digitalization drive to streamline tax administration and reduce the heavy dependence on “human interventions”.
These and other measures, the Minister noted, could help build the confidence Ghanaians has in GRA which would ultimately rake in the needed revenue for development.
‘Over the next few days I will be holding stakeholder meetings with institutions involved with GRA to address issues of alleged harassment of businesses and discuss how we can work to improve the business climate in order for investors to feel confident about investing and doing business in Ghana’ he disclosed.
Source: graphic.com.gh
