The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, has been honoured at the 5th Ghana CEO’s Summit with the Outstanding Public Leadership award. The award was presented to the Commissioner-General by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The award is in recognition of the bold initiatives introduced at the GRA under the leadership of Mr. Owusu-Amoah, which have resulted in the achievement of significant milestones including meeting revenue targets for two consecutive years.
The Summit is a high-impact business leadership summit for over 400 topmost Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and dignitaries. It is the foremost business conference for decision-makers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, business leaders and board members among others who are committed to unlocking Ghana’s economic potential by offering concrete, innovative and actionable solutions.
These leaders are also considered to be championing private-led growth, leading discussions around innovative public policies and best growth-oriented business practices to help the country move forward and build resilient companies and institutions.
Speaking as a panellist on the ‘The Economy & Ease of doing business’ discussing the topic ‘Resetting Ghana’s Economy & Improving the Ease of doing Business’, Mr. Owusu-Amoah noted that the world we find ourselves in today is running very fast in terms of technology, and to remain relevant and effective we have no choice but to be abreast with the times.
He added that GRA is therefore focused on the use of digital tools to aid compliance, with the expected result of increasing revenue mobilisation for the development of Ghana.
He mentioned some innovations introduced by the Authority as:
- Introduction of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS);
- Filing of returns electronically via the Ghana.gov platform, which can be accessed online via the GRA website;
- Introduction of the cashless system and taxing the High-Net-Worth individuals, which commenced in earnest in 2020.
Other initiatives are: Restructuring the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) into Area Offices and Taxpayer Service Centres; Commencement in the use of Ghana Card Personal Identification Number as the Tax Identification Number (TIN) for individuals; Introduction of New Excise Tax Stamps; Rigorous efforts to tax players in the e-commerce industry; Embarking on intensive debt collection drives and prosecution of tax defaulters; and Increased Tax Education.
