GRA Boss Tasks Revenue Officers

Emmanuel Kofi Nti, the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has encouraged revenue officers to do more to be able to help achieve its target for the year.

He said with the rough combination of effective supervisory skills and new initiatives in debt collection, the 2018 collection target should be within reach, despite challenges.

Mr. Nti made these remarks during the commissioning of a clinic located at GRA’s Head Office’s premises; a project which was spearheaded by the Customs Staff Association to offer quality health care to its members.

The Commissioner General noted that the government had a mission of carrying out numerous projects and initiatives; however, all these could not be achieved if officers mandated to mobilize domestic tax revenue were not healthy.

Mr. Nti noted that in the light of this it was therefore necessary for revenue officers to have regular checkups to stay healthy and for the early detention of disease.

He said they should as well adopt healthy lifestyles and exercise regularly as it played a major role in boosting one’s health.

Mr. Nti, who commended the Staff Association for embarking on a laudable initiative, also noted that their welfare was primary to GRA as such they should work hard to sustain the Authority.

He was of the view that the image of GRA would improve if its revenue mobilization targets got better.

Dr. Prince Pambo, Medical Director at the Civil Service Polyclinic, said one of the things he would advocate for was preventive health service, adding that “officers should not wait till conditions pull them down”.

He said his team would ensure that on a yearly basis they would run a comprehensive medical screening for them and it was the team’s desire that they would be given the permission to replicate this at all the various units GRA had across the country.

He explained that this would ensure that they had good data on officers and then would be able to put in measures that they were healthy and sound to perform their duties.

The Medical Director said currently they had a very sophisticated laboratory which could run all the basic laboratory investigations including full blood count, liver function test, kidney function test and cholesterol levels.