Thursday, 28 March

I'll have questions if GRA doesn't achieve GHS58bn of GHS60bn target – Adei

Business
GRA

A former Board Chair of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Professor Stephen Adei, has said he will question what has gone wrong if the revenue-collecting agency fails to achieve GHS58 billion of its GHS60 billion target.

Under the Prof Adei-led board, the GRA exceeded its GHS43-billion tax revenue target for 2019.

The former GIMPA rector said he expects the new GRA Board to do better.

He also disclosed that he accepted the appointment to be a Board Chair because it was an opportunity to serve his country.

He told Kofi Oppong Asamoah on the Class Morning Show that he was hopeful the new board will continue from where he and his team left off.   

“I am a development economist and this nation should mobilise, at least, between 17-and-a-half to 20% of our GDP in order for us to move forward, development-wise.

“For me to say no [to the appointment], whether it was Mahama, whether it was Akufo-Addo, Greenstreet, Ayariga, nobody will approach me for this national responsible position and I will say no,” Prof Adei said.

He explained that “by God’s grace, I don’t depend on my board allowances to survive”.

“As a former UN expert, my survival, all things being equal, is guaranteed but to refuse a national assignment, no; so, I accepted it and I was grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate that something can be done.”

Touching on his achievement as board chair, Prof Adei said: “I went there and for about 15 months, for the first time in the history of Ghana, last year, despite Covid, we exceeded the revenue mobilisation by GHS3 billion”.

“The government was looking for GHS42 billion [but] we came up with GHS45 billion. Again, this year, we set agenda that we will move from GHS45 billion to GHS60 billion and the board, we sat down with management and we told them how that will be achieved”.

“Even though we are not there, we expect that if they achieve anything less than GHS58 billion, I’ll question what has gone wrong and I believe this new board will continue where we left off.”

 

Source: Classfmonline.com/Emmanuel Mensah