The teams have been divided into specific areas
The Ghana Revenue Authority monitoring team has recovered more than GH¢85 million as short revenue for the state within the first five months of its inception.
The teams which have been divided into areas have significantly impacted revenue mobilization between October 2022 and February 2023 according to the Customs Division of the GRA.
The Division has put in place several monitoring Teams to ensure that correct amounts of duty are paid by importers and also as a tool to curtail smuggling across the country.
In October 2022, four (4) Teams were inaugurated to undertake risk-based and intelligence-driven operations across the country.
The teams which are Tema, Eastern Frontier based at Dabala, Western Frontier based in Kumasi and Vehicle Taskforce, which is nationwide, have also arrested some uncustomed goods as well as carried out other related assignments which involve the interception of substances suspected to be Indian hemp among others.
Speaking to journalists about the development, the Commissioner of Customs at the GRA, Alhaji Seidu Iddrisu Iddisah cautioned that the team will not compromise on any unethical exercise by any importer or trader against the country’s customs laws.
According to him, the recoveries made by the team will go a long way to contribute to the revenue drive of the state as well as ensure that the security of the country remains intact.
He, therefore, noted that this is another layer of security measures put in place by the Authority.
“As you know, Customs is supposed to be at all the entry points to ensure that goods that come into the country meet the security and health needs of the people and the country has laws to deal with the importation of items as well as the payment of right duties to the state which is used as an economic tool."
He continued, "We have layers of enforcement and one of them is the establishment of the monitoring teams that operates at certain strategic areas to ensure that if one is able to dodge from the entry points, these teams will be able to apprehend them for the right amount of duties and customs processes to be done. The teams have been very successful since it was set up towards the latter part of last year by collecting over 85 million cedis from only Tema and other goods that were seized because they did not meet the standards required for the country”
"On the concerns of some team members harassing innocent traders at some of the country’s borders, the Commissioner admitted that such complaints have been made in the public domain but without any concrete evidence," Alhaji Iddisah noted.
“We have always encouraged people to come out with evidence of our team members harassing individuals or any form of corruption so that we can investigate and deal with the officers involved. We have a code of ethics and conduct and when it is breached, the necessary sanctions are applied accordingly” the GRA Customs Commissioner assured.
The Authority however advised the general public to cooperate with the Monitoring Teams and be assured that it will discharge their duties with the highest professional standards.
Meanwhile, the Western Frontier Team has also recovered a total short collection of GH¢1,466,797.57. The Vehicle Taskforce (Nationwide) intercepted and detained 193 uncustomed vehicles in the last quarter of 2022 and 80 vehicles between January and February 2023.
