GcNet presents dividends payment to gov’t

Dr Nortey Omaboe, Executive Chairman of the Ghana Community Network Systems (GcNet), has presented a cheque for GH¢12 million to government as interim dividend for 2015.

The amount brings the total dividend payment made to government through the GRA shareholding in GCNet to GH¢ 79 Million.

Presenting the cheque, Dr Omaboe said aside the direct dividend payment, government had also received other indirect dividends through payments to the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) and the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB).

“An additional GH¢ 9 Million interim dividend payment has been made to the GSA and the GCB where government has a stake in.”

He said government’s investment in GCNet had been very rewarding and also showcased how Public-Private Partnership (PPP) could be effective and mutually rewarding.

Dr Omaboe said the dividend payments had been made within the context of a number of investments that were being made by GCNet, to enhance the various systems that it had deployed.

He said within the context of domestic tax revenue mobilization, GCNet had collaborated with the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of GRA to deploy the TRIPS system, which had been rolled out to 30 Tax Offices and account for approximately 94 of domestic tax collected by the DTRD, amounting to almost GH¢ 10 Billion.

The Executive Chairman said a new Transactional Document Verification System (TDVS) and a Letter of Credit (LoC) Module were being deployed.

The two systems, he said, would enable the Bank of Ghana and the commercial banks to access data on import and export transactions processed through Customs to check foreign exchange payments made for imports, as well as foreign exchange earnings from exports that are repatriated into the country.

He said GcNet was aware of the importance of revenue mobilization in the performance of the economy, and assured government that his outfit would do their utmost to ensure that the systems that are deployed contributed effectively towards enhanced revenue mobilization.

Mrs Mornah Quartey, Deputy Minister of Finance, who received the cheque, said Ghana’s budget deficit had been brought down and that it was important to support the revenue agencies to make more impact in revenue collection.

She said government would create and enabling environment for businesses to grow to give more opportunities for revenue collection to enhance the country economic growth.

Mrs Quartey said government was supporting the GRA in putting up some tax reforms and commended in its drive in to generate more revenue for Government.