Two trading associations in Ghana, the Traders Advocacy Group and the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, are urgently calling on the government to halt the Ghana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) initiative to deploy monitoring task forces for revenue collection.

At separate press conferences on Monday, these traders raised concerns about what they describe as constant harassment and extortion by customs officers during revenue mobilization efforts.

The Traders Advocacy Group questioned the introduction of the GRA’s monitoring task force and the effectiveness of its technology in preventing tax evasion at the ports.

Nana Poku, the General Secretary of the Traders Advocacy Group, addressing the press stressed that, “our position is unequivocal, government has invested in cutting edge systems at the ports for tax compliance and revenue mobilization, but their use is ineffective. It is high time leaders took the matter seriously.Traders will never cooperate with GRA officials if they continue to operate with impunity in their thievery and extortion.”

The Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association is also fighting against moves by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to carry out the compliance and invigilation exercise.

Per the plans, GRA officials are to be stationed at Abossey Okai to ensure that the traders comply with its revenue collection exercise. Some shops at Abossey Okai were shut in protest of the GRA’s directive.

The dealers have issued a two-week ultimatum to the government, demanding the cessation of the GRA’s initiative. Failure to comply will lead to intensified protests.

“We had an engagement with the GRA at the AMA hall two weeks ago, and we were thinking they would give us the opportunity to tell them that their compliance policy was not going to help us, but they didn’t give us the opportunity. They only told us that they were implementers of the law and that if we had any grievances, we should channel them to Parliament,” Omari said.

“It is disrespectful to have GRA officials come to our shops after our engagement with them, and so we are going to stage a huge demonstration to send a strong signal to the government and the GRA commissioner-general that that compliance approach is neither here nor there”, Financial secretary of the association, Samuel Omari, stated.