A major shake-up is expected in the top hierarchy of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Asaase News has learned.
Asaase’s sources say that both Colonel Kwadwo Damoah (rtd) and Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah are not likely to have their contracts, which have come to an end, renewed.
Both men have attained the statutory retirement age and the Office of the President has been markedly reluctant in this second term of the Akufo-Addo government to renew contracts of appointees who have reached retirement age.
The GRA has also been at the centre of revenue mobilisation challenges in Ghana, heightened efforts by the Authority to keep revenue flowing in the challenging economic climate notwithstanding.
Colonel Damoah’s case has also not been helped by the indictment by the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which recently announced that Labianca Company Ltd, a frozen food importer, had evaded import duties through influence-peddling by the owner, Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh, an elected member of the Council of State.
The commissioner of the Customs Division reacted to the Special Prosecutor with comments that have been condemned as threatening and improper.
Serving GRA leaders
Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah is the current Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority. He is credited with bringing to the GRA vast experience in leadership, management and banking operations.
Colonel Kwadwo Damoah (rtd) serves as the commissioner of the GRA’s Customs Division.
Owusu-Amoah was appointed as the acting commissioner on 30 May 2019 and subsequently confirmed in the post on 19 May 2020. Before his appointment as Commissioner General, he had been a board member of the GRA, starting in May 2017.
Colonel Damoah was appointed as a technical advisor to the Commissioner General and served in this role from October 2017 to June 2019.
The officer in charge of the GRA’s Domestic Tax Revenue Division is Edward Gyambrah.
The Authority
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was established in 2009. It merged the three previous revenue agencies – namely, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Value Added Tax Service (VATS) – with the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB), in accordance with 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 stream of revenue for the government, trade facilitation and controlled and safe flow of goods across the country’s borders.
The Authority also administers a number of international agreements which govern Ghana’s relations with other tax realms and institutions, such as protocols set by the World Customs Organization and World Trade Organization, 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.
Wilberforce Asare
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