The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has indicated that government will do all in its power to stop any form of revenue leakages at the ports, even if it means declaring war on unscrupulous officers who collude with freight forwarders and importers to deny the state of its needed due revenue.
“We came to customs to have a discussion with the senior management and tell them how serious it is with regards to revenue mobilization and also our preparedness to back them and their own complexities in ensuring that we get the revenue that we want to come up with,” he stated.
The Finance Minister, emphasized that, the Government of Ghana, is very keen on raking all due revenue for national development, and has targeted to fulfil that obligation by leveraging the Ghana Revenue Authority.
He revealed though, that so far, the Domestic Tax Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority has improved upon its target, but the Customs Division of GRA, are still achieving below its target.
“The Domestic Tax Division are performing 35% above their target and Customs is about 10% below. So, clearly there needs to be a focus on their part,” the Minister said.
The Finance Minister indicated that, as the parent ministry of GRA, it is taking up initiatives to reform in order to find innovative ways to mobilizing revenue for the state.
He said one of such measures include the appointment of commissioners who are for the first time, chosen from outside the Authority.
According to him, this represents a newness in approach to doing things in the sector.
“The expectation is that things will be done differently and with much more innovation and there would be no sacred cows.”
He emphasized the seriousness of the Ministry to provide all the needed support to make sure revenue mobilisation objectives are a success, especially by taking advantage of the projected efficiency expected from the new terminal 3, which is the expanded Tema Port.