GRA leadership changed for smooth implementation of revenue strategy – Ofori-Atta
Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has clarified why government changed the leadership of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Ofori-Atta explained that government’s revenue mobilization “strategies were not [being] implemented the way we wanted it to be implemented and that is why the change of leadership has occurred”.
The government’s revenue target for July 2019 fell short by GHS5 billion; prompting concerns from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Former Director-General and Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof. Stephen Adei was subsequently appointed the Board Chair of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
There were other drastic changes which were all targeted at improving revenue mobilization.
Ofori-Atta said, that, the change in leadership is among steps taken to improve the country’s revenue situation.
“I think revenue has gone up on average from 15 to 20 percent each year since 2017 and even in these doldrums I think we are up by 11 percent as compared to last year. But we are certainly missing our targets and we need to do something about that. I think that is clear to all of us with the new leadership that we have brought to GRA and we truly are expecting great things from the people that we have put there,” the Finance Minister added.
GRA reforms
The government in June this year undertook some structural reforms at the tax-collecting agency where the three Commissioners for Domestic Tax collection, Customs Division, and Support Services Division were all rotated.
Additionally, more than 1,400 GRA personnel had their posts changed in a bid to provide the needed boosts to revenue collection.
Despite these measures, the government could still not meet the GH¢31.8 billion (9.2 percent of GDP) revenue target it set for July 2019; only raising GH¢26.8 billion (7.7 percent of GDP).
NABCo role
The Finance Minister on the show admitted that one of government’s key objectives for establishing the Nation Builders Corps which was to use recruits to drive tax compliance has not been met.
About 10,000 of the initial 100,000 recruits were supposed to help the Ghana Revenue Authority to mobilise domestic revenue especially in the large informal sector but given the revenue shortfalls, the Finance Minister admitted their role has not played out well.
“…I am sure we will ultimately reap the results of this initiative,” Mr. Ofori-Atta added.