Akufo-Addo dissolves GRA board, Julie Essiam takes over as Commissioner General
A senior New Patriotic Party (NPP) sitting member of Parliament will be appointed as the chairman of the new board of directors of the GRA
The Dr Anthony Oteng-Gyasi-led board of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), which has been spearheading the country’s revenue mobilisation efforts has been dissolved by the President of the Republic Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
As a consequence, the Commissioner General of the GRA who is a member of the board, Rev Dr Amishaddai Owusu-Amoah (62), has also been removed and his place will be filled in an acting capacity by Miss Julie Essiam, who until her new appointment, was the Commissioner responsible for the Support Services Division of the GRA.
Miss Pearl Darko, who is currently the deputy director general in charge of operations at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) will be moved from SNNIT to take up the role of Commissioner responsible for the Support Services Division of the GRA.
Asaase News Sources at the Presidency who are familiar with the decision to reconstitute the GRA board indicate that a senior New Patriotic Party (NPP) sitting member of Parliament will be appointed as the chairman of the new board of directors of the GRA which will be announced in due course.
The Commissioner, of Customs Division Alhaji Seidu Iddrisu Iddisah, is also expected to be replaced by new appointee following his statutory retirement.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was established in 2009 as a merger of the three revenue agencies; the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Value Added Tax Service (VATS), and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) by the Ghana Revenue Authority Act 2009, (Act 791).
The GRA’s core mandate is to ensure maximum compliance with all relevant tax laws to ensure a sustainable revenue stream for government, trade facilitation, and a controlled and safe flow of goods across the country’s borders.
GRA also administers several international agreements that govern the country’s relations with other tax jurisdictions and institutions such as World Customs Organisation Protocols, World Trade Organisation Protocols, Double Taxation, and Exchange of Information Agreements.
The Authority is made up of two operational divisions; the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD), and the Customs Division (CD) with assistance from the Support Services Division (SSD) and the Commissioner General’s Secretariat.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
Asaase Radio 99.5 broadcasts on radio via 99.5 in Accra, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 100.3 in Cape Coast and on our affiliates Azay FM 89.1 in Takoradi, Bead FM 99.9 in Bimbilla, Mining City 89.5 in Tarkwa, Sissala Radio 96.3 in Tumu, Somuaa FM 89.9 in Gushegu, Stone City 90.7 in Ho and Wale FM 106.9 in Walewale
Tune in to broadcasts online: asaaseradio.com, Sound Garden and TuneIn
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
Live streaming on facebook.com/asaase99.5. Also on YouTube: AsaaseXtra.
Join the conversation. Call: 020 000 9951 or 059 415 7777. Or WhatsApp: 020 000 0995.
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
#WeAreHere
#WeLoveOurLand
