Naked Illegality at GRA as tension brews

There is a simmering anger among staff of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) especially at its head office, following the continuous stay in office by the Commissioner–General, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and two other commissioners, after their term in office had allegedly elapsed.

The others are Col. Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd), a Commissioner in-charge of Customs Division and Ms. Julie Essiam, Commissioner responsible for Support Services Division at the GRA.

The Anchor has gathered that even though the three Commissioners’ respective terms-in-office had expired and there has not been any letter of extension of their appointment by the appointing authorities, they are still at post; allegedly signing letters and documents, with impunity.
They are said to be lobbying desperately, though, to get contract extension of their appointment, instead of honorably bowing out and allowing others to take over the management of affairs.

This development is said to be raising serious eyebrows among the workers, especially, within senior officers and to a large extent, affecting effective work delivery.

The GRA boss himself, sources told this paper, has been maneuvering his ways and lobbying through the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to have his contract extended.

The three Commissioners, particularly, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, have been accused of using their positions to victimize officers suspected not to be in their good books.

Ms. Essiam on the other hand, according to sources is expected to attain a mandatory retirement age of 60 years in July, and should have proceeded on her terminal leave by now at home and have good times with her grandchildren. However, she is still at post enjoying juicy allowances, whiles pushing for contract extension.

She is an accomplished Banking Executive with a professional passion for sustainable transformation and development work.
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Essiam was the Group Executive at the Ecobank Group with branches covering 40 countries across North America, Europe, Africa and other parts of the world.

She is the concept originator and the founder of Africans4Africa (A4A) initiation; a private sector-led development organization that calls for a collaborative effort across the leadership of Africa to contribute to the successful achievement of an impactful transformation of the continent towards a thriving and prosperous Africa.

She was also the immediate-past Board Member of the Global fund and the President of the Private Sector delegation of the Global fund.
She was a member of Ecobank Group Executive Committee, and has been on the boards of Ecobank Zambia, the Ecobank Foundation and three board committees of the Ecobank Group-Finance and Audit, Risk and HR.

In the case of Col Damoah, sources say he has also been using his connections at the presidency to have few more years at post.
Though, The Anchor has learnt he has not been taking his salaries as Commissioner for some few months now, some have said, he has outlived his usefulness at the GRA, therefore, must go!

Col K Damoah (Rtd) was first appointed Acting Commissioner on 30th May, 2019 and subsequently confirmed on 19th May, 2020.
Prior to his appointment as Commissioner, he had been a Board Member of the Ghana Revenue Authority from May 2017. He was appointed a Technical Advisor to the Commissioner-General from October 2017 to June 2019.

He was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Business Department of the Zenith University College in Accra, between 2010 and 2018.
Meanwhile, this paper in the coming days will publish series of some questionable deals, signed by top officials at the helm of affairs at the blind side of the citizenry.

More To Come…