GRA Boss retirement: Treat Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah like Kofi Nti

Persons within the corridors of power familiar with happenings at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) are watching with eagle eyes on how the current Commissioner-General, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, would be treated when he hits his mandatory retirement age on October 10, 2021.

In the estimation of those persons, Commissioner Owusu-Amoah should not be treated differently from his predecessor, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti, who was hounded out of office and was not offered any extension when he hit the mandatory retirement age.

There are moves by those directly involved in the appointment of the Commissioner-General of the GRA to grant Mr. Owusu-Amoah some one year extension, flawless source within government have told The Inquisitor.

However, some top government officials and New Patriotic Party (NPP) gurus have vowed to scuttle the whole move because they feel that equity and fairness must be made to prevail.

Mr. Kofi Nti unlike Mr. Owusu-Amoah was known to be an NPP person because of his role in economic team of the party whiles it was in opposition. He was part of the technocrats who worked with Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia

The former Commissioner-General who was appointed on February 17, 2017, officially started working on June 28, that same year. His retirement was announced on September 20, 2017 and he left office on October 1, 2019.

Mr. Owusu-Amoah was appointed as Commissioner in charge of Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) on May 30, 2019 and started work on June 4, that same year. He was made the Acting Commissioner-General on September 20, 2019 and will hit retirement age on October 10, 2021.

Those who are calling on fairness and equity are saying that if anything, Mr. Owusu-Amoah should be given up to December 2021 to properly wrap up and exit.

There are others who are claiming that Mr. Kofi Nti was treated badly because he had issues with the then Board Chairman and some powerful forces at the Ministry of Finance.

What was very excruciating was the fact persons who were expected to protect and fight for the quiet and hardworking Mr. Kofi Nti left him to be treated shabbily.

Owusu-Amoah’s Alleged Lobbying

There are murmurings within the corridors of the GRA and government to the effect that the GRA boss wants the extension to cover up certain misdeeds and also continue to do hatchet jobs for some powerful forces who are every close to the President.

Already, some NPP party persons are calling on the Chief Taxman to exit the GRA when his time is up because they think that certain decisions he took brought the NPP into disrepute.

Some NPP persons have vowed to vehemently oppose any move to grant Mr. Owusu-Amoah extension because of the way Mr. Kofi Nti was treated in 2019.

The business community is also having issues with the GRA boss with claims that the introduction and implementation of certain tax policies were terrible and brought rumpuses between the business community and the government.

The Inquisitor has gathered that Mr. Owusu-Amoah and his emissaries have been visits to persons closer to the corridors of power, especially blood relatives of President Akufo-Addo.

Spouses of certain powerful forces closer to the President have been roped in the whole agenda to ensure that Mr. Owusu-Amoah is offered extension after his retirement.

Already, some NPP persons have come out boldly that the Chief Taxman must to made to exit the GRA when his time is due because some policies he introduced nearly caused the party in the 2020 elections.

The business community also have issues with him, claiming that some of his policies were not properly introduced and rolled out.

Source: The Inquisitor