Parliament petitioned over ‘illegal stay’ of GRA Commissioner-General

A group of concerned citizens has petitioned Parliament demanding immediate removal from office of Rev. Dr. Amishidai Owusu-Amoah as Commissioner-General.

According to them, the Commissioner–General’s mandate expired some two years ago.

The citizens, wielding placards with various inscriptions on Friday, March 24, 2023, earlier picketed at the GRA Headquarters in Accra insisting Rev. Dr. Owusu-Amoah has retired and must leave for others to take over.

In February 2023, a private citizen, Charles Tuffuor petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate the continued stay in office of two senior officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

According to the petitioner, the Director-General of GRA, Rev Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and the Revenue Generation Officer of GRA, Julia Essiam, despite being way beyond their mandatory retirement age of 60 years.

He added that contrary to the law, they are still in office despite the expiration of their respective contract extensions as approved by the president.

“I am a citizen of Ghana and I write to you to respectfully investigate why commissioners of the Ghana Revenue Authority are still at post," he said.

“Rev Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah who has been the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Customs Division, has illegally stayed at post even after the expiration of his contract extension in 2021."

“Meanwhile, the Government of President Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia led the NPP government and introduced a policy that sought to end the working contract extension of government agencies and departments whose expertise is not scarce in the country,” his petition said.

Mr Tuffuor noted that the stay in office of the GRA boss defies the exact basis on which some state officials including Dr. Amishaddai’s predecessor were removed from office.