The Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, has called on the Tema Collection of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, where he engaged staff and management of the Customs Division, to do more in terms of increasing government revenue.

Applauding the collection’s contribution to the kitty of government over the years, the Minister encouraged the uniformed men of Tema Customs to double up efforts towards meeting revenue targets given them this year for national development.

“If you collected 95% of your target in 2023, that is a decent performance. So like every institution all over the world, even where your performance is excellent, there is a need for improvement so that you can maintain that excellence,” he averred.

The Finance Minister assured that his outfit will work hard at ameliorating the challenges that come up during tax administration at their various stations.

“Revenue mobilization will be my number one priority. Given that you are the foot soldiers of our country when it comes to revenue mobilization, my role as Minister for Finance, will be incomplete if I do not have interface with you, if I do not interact with you, if I do not understand your challenges and seek to address those challenges, and this is why I am here today,” he said.

The former Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Rev. Amishedai Owusu Amoah, reassured the Tema collection of Customs of the authority’s maximum support in its revenue mobilization efforts.

“This collection contributes about 95%. It means that if we grow Tema, then we are growing the revenue. We will not say that we are leaving the other areas untouched, because for all you know, these are other areas too that when grown, will be able to dilute the concentration on Tema,”

For his part, the Commissioner of Customs division of GRA, Seidu Iddrisu Iddisah, reemphasized the importance of Tema collection to the work of customs in Ghana.

“More than 90% of all the goods that are imported or exported, do so through the Tema harbor, and for that matter, almost 90% of customs revenues in terms of taxes and duties are generated at the Tema harbour. Additionally, the Sector Commander and others who have spoken mentioned that Tema is the customs university. We say this because, goods are cleared from the ports, using what we call customs regimes and it is only at the Tema harbor that we have all the regimes operating,” he noted.

The Tema Sector Commander of Customs, Christiana Odi Adjei revealed that progressive steps are being undertaken to address challenges encountered in their work to optimize revenue collection.

“The challenges we have faced with the suspense regimes are vigorously being addressed. Our warehouses are coordinated quarterly by the office in charge of housing with the assistance of the suspense regime under headquarters. Transit goods are also being monitored by the E-track device as well as the E-track officer under headquarters. High-risk goods such as alcohol are being given a human escort in addition to the E-track device and this has yielded results as we have intercepted several consignments that were supposedly going on transit which have been diverted,” he said.

She added that “free zone goods are also being closely monitored to curb abuse. Not long ago, we found vehicles in a free zone container through the help of our scanners, so those goods were also intercepted.”

Despite these challenges she said, her outfit will remain committed to excellence.