Work hard to improve image of Customs – Commissioner

Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Isaac Kofi Toffah, outgoing Sector Commander of the Customs Division, Kumasi Collection Station of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has charged the personnel to demonstrate high moral standards in the discharge of their duties.

“It is your collective responsibility to strive to give the Division and the Authority as a whole a good image.

To succeed in this regard, you must remain focused, dedicated, determined and exhibit good conduct to win the hearts of the people we serve”, he noted.

Assistant Commissioner Toffah, speaking at a pull-out parade in his honour, to mark the end of his service at Amakom in Kumasi, expressed concern over how the image of the Customs had been battered over the years due to the malpractices of some few undisciplined elements.

“We have been vilified and indeed crucified in the court of public opinion due largely to the conduct of a misguided few”, he lamented.

He reminded, particularly the younger generation of officers, that they represented the new face of the Customs Division and as brand ambassadors, “you must live above reproach and conduct yourself in an exemplary manner to justify the trust reposed in you”.

Assistant Commissioner Toffah served the Customs Division in various capacities for 38 years, and witnessed at first hand, the various stages of transformation of the Customs and Excise Department to a para-military Customs, Excise and Preventive Service into the present Customs Division of the GRA.

He is credited to have supervised an operation that led to the nation’s first cocaine arrest at the Tema port, following his appointment as the Head of Preventive Duties at the Honuta Station in 1987 when the erstwhile Border Guards departed.

The Assistant commissioner also served severally on many committees, including the Committee for the Drafting of Scheme of Service for the Customs, committee that drafted the GRA Training Manual and committee that got CEPS ISO 900 certified for the first time.

Mr. John Vianney, Commissioner, Customs Division of the GRA, lauded the outgoing Station Commander for his commitment duty.

He urged personnel of the Division to work harder to improve its revenue generation for economic growth.