The Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam says he is ready to work with management and staff of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to address challenges facing the Authority.

According to Mr. Amin Adam, measures must be put in place to block all avenues of revenue leakage within the port system.

Speaking during a recent visit to the port, which forms part of a broader economic strategy aimed at curtailing revenue losses and diminishing perceptions of corruption within port operations, Dr. Adam commended the revenue mobilization efforts of GRA officials at the Tema Port.

“I am sure many people may be thinking that my visit here is to chastise you but my visit here is to motivate and encourage you for what you do. When the sector commander was speaking, it became clear that you have been doing well but…you are short of 11.3 percent and so there is a need for improvement.”

Read also: Government sets our ‘unrealistic’ targets – GRA workers’ union to Bawumia

This comes days after the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia accused the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) of harassing businesses under the guise of tax collection.

According to Dr Bawumia, the current situation where businesses are made to pay numerous taxes to the GRA is due to the setting of unrealistic targets for officers.

“They are harassing businesses. That harassment is coming from the sort of targets that are created at their office.

"They are setting unrealistic targets. And this is because the tax base is so narrow you say to them, 'This is your target for this month', and they are trying to figure out, where do I go?

“Then for them, it is very easy, you go back to where you had it the last time. You go to taxpayers, the people who are already paying taxes and then you have to come up with a new reason why they should pay more and so you come up with all sorts of stuff,” Dr Bawumia had said.

But in response to this, unionised staff at the GRA in a statement dated Friday, March 22, 2024, condemned the Vice President's comments.

The staff also highlighted the contradiction in Dr. Bawumia’s claims, since the annual target for the Authority is set by government.

“It is strange that the Vice President, who also doubles as the Head of the Economic Management Team could suggest that the Authority gives itself unrealistic targets while he is well aware that annual targets are assigned to the Authority by the government through the Ministry of Finance," part of the statement read.

The workers also added that, “We would like to state unequivocally that, we the workers of GRA find this statement unfortunate and consider it as an attack on the efforts of the hard-working staff of the Authority which if not discontinued, would incur the displeasure of workers, disrupt revenue collection efforts and breed industrial disharmony.”

Read also: Bawumia accuses GRA of ‘harassing businesses with unrealistic targets’

But addressing the staff, the Finance Minister stressed that his Ministry is ready to collaborate with the Ghana Revenue Authority.

“I am very determined to work with you at the management and staff level to address the challenges that you have been experiencing and having over the years. There are leakages and you must ensure that we block those leakages.

“I have received information that there are some goods that are not accounted for and I have been discussing with the commissioner-general on how we resolve this because it is important that we put in extreme measures to ensure the accountability of commanders at the warehouses,” Mr. Amin Adam said.