By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, Aug. 02, GNA – Brigadier General Zibrim Bawah Ayorrogo, the Commissioner of the
Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has admonished customs officers
against imitating members of the public in their line of duty.
Speaking in an interview with the media on the sidelines of a working visit to the Upper East
Region, Brigadier General Ayorrogo, urged the staff to remain professional in ensuring tax
compliance among traders and avoid activities that promote fear among cross border traders.
Instead, he underscored the need for the officers to intensify education to encourage traders
and other relevant stakeholders to willingly honour their tax obligations instead of invading
them.
“Do not harass the traders, be professional. I also want the people to be law abiding, pay the
taxes because it is the taxes that we use in developing our country,” he said.
The Commissioner was in the region as part of activities to interact with the staff and
experience first-hand information about the challenges confronting their operations and how to
address them.
He was being accompanied by Mr Peter Antobre Ofori, the Deputy Commissioner in charge of
Preventive, Chief Revenue Officer Johnson Menlah Yankey, the Head of Temporary Admission,
Principal Revenue Officer, Mr Joshua Quartey, the Commission’s Secretariat and Senior Revenue
Officer, as well as Ms Mawushie Adotey, the Communication and Public Affairs.
The Commissioner commended the staff of the Upper East Region for exhibiting professionalism
and exceeding their collection targets in the past few years, encouraged them to remain
steadfast in helping the country rake in the needed revenue for development.
He, however, expressed worry about the porous nature of the country’s borders particularly
those in the region and noted that it had over the years affected the amount of revenue
collected.
Brigadier General Ayorrogo revealed that plans were advanced to build the capacities of staff on
modern operations to strengthen interagency cooperation, identify hotspots, smuggling routes
and provide improved border protection.
He said some of the collections did not have scanners, which issue were currently being
discussed to ensure that scanners were secured for the thorough scanning of all that came in or
went out, in this era of jihadist activities.
GNA