National revenue secretariat to be liquidated

The Ghanaian National Revenue Secretariat (NRS) is to be liquidated by the end of March next year, following the establishment of a new National Revenue Management Board (NRMB) to perform the functions of the NRS.

Dr Appiah Koranteng, National Co-ordinator of the National Institutional Renewal Programme (NIRP), told the GNA at Akosombo on Thursday that the close down of the NRS is to avoid waste of national resources and duplication of functions.

He said the NRS was established by law to manage revenue generated by all state institutions which contribute to the consolidated fund, including the Internal Revenue Service, Customs Excise and Preventive Service, Department of National Lotteries, Registrar-General's Department and Land Title Registry.

"With the passage of the law to create the new National Revenue Management Board (NRMB), the NRS will be closed down to avoid duplication of functions and waste of resources."

Koranteng said although the by-law establishing the new board was passed last year, the board has not yet been constituted. As a result NRS, which used to be manned by personnel from the various revenue collection agencies, is still in place with only two workers.

"Since the passage of the law last year, the staff of the NRS have withdrawn to their mother organisations, leaving only two people in unspecified capacities to run the NRS," he said. He said as a result of government's failure to constitute the board in time the secretariat was subvented last year, which should not have happened.

Koranteng called on the government to expedite action to constitute the board "because we are closing down NRS by the end of the first quarter of next year and that would leave a vacuum in revenue management. "It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance with the authority of cabinet to constitute the board," he said.

He said when the NRS is closed down, its assets, which include computers, vehicles and the office building, will be transferred to the new board and the staff would be assessed and properly placed where they can be of benefit to the system.

Meanwhile, participants at the four-day government reinvention workshop at Akosombo in the eastern region of Ghana, have developed an action plan for the liquidation of the NRS. The process is to start before the end of this year.

In a related development the management structures of the National Commission on Women and Development (NCWD) and the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC) are to be reviewed. Under the proposed review, the position of Chairperson for the respective commissions, is to be replaced by Executive Director with deputies and supporting staff at the national, regional and district levels.

Dr George Attakorah of the Office of the President, in a report, said the new step is to make the two commissions more proactive in their advocacy and public relations activities. It is also to integrate functions of local government agencies that border on gender and children issues, into the activities of the two commissions.

Participants at the workshop also unanimously approved a partial commercialisation of the Land Title Registry to allow portions of its functions to be handled by private investors.