Board Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Professor Stephen Adei has spoken highly of the recently deployed port management system; the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS).
Prof Adei speaking in an exclusive interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show described ICUMS as a much better system than the previous system manned by the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNET).
His assertion according to him, is based on the revenue generated by ICUMS despite reduced imports at Ghana’s land and sea ports due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are getting better results because in May and June alone, even under Covid-19 there was far more collection of revenue than previously collected under the old system,” he said.
“On average, the revenue collected is about GH¢800 million, but just last month we had about GH¢1.2 billion and this is even under reduced imports due to the pandemic. And I’m happy to say that despite Covid-19, our end of May revenue was only 8.6 percent below the target,” he added.
Speaking further on the show, he asserted that the jump in the revenue collection due to the effectiveness of the ICUMS, shows that the country was losing a lot of revenue with the old system and that the resistance mounted against the introduction of ICUMS was due to the fact that ‘some people’ were afraid of getting ‘exposed.’
Prof Adei who admitted to some challenges faced by the new system, noted that the challenges were being resolved and the outcomes were promising.
“We have challenges but they are being resolved and the results so far are promising, we are doing our best for God and country,” he stated.