The government of Ghana has signed a technical agreement with the Treasury Department of the United states of America on a possible collaboration and capacity building through technical assistance in certain areas of the economy.
The agreement was signed by Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, who is currently in the United States of America with the Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo and the Chief Executive of the Ghana Investments Promotion Centre, Yofi Grant.
The meeting or the agreement is all about management and assisting with government accounting generally. “There is a need for the capacity of state agencies and officials to be built to ensure transparency, accountability and prudent management.
We need to block all the holes in the financial system and among the revenue generation agencies. This is necessary at a time when we need enough revenue to promote government agenda of Ghana beyond Aid “, stated Yoofi Grant in an exclusive interview
Over the years, government of Ghana has faced the challenge of double payment of salaries and contract sums to state officials and contractors and ‘ghost names’, a move that has drained the state of several millions of cedis.
It is estimated that out of the eight million people who are capable of paying tax in Ghana, only half, actually pay the taxes. The rest evade or run away from paying tax. There is therefore the need to bring such tax defaulters into the tax net.
It is believed that building capacity in an effort to block the revenue leakages would be a good move since it would send a signal to revenue generating agencies to improve their performances.
By Adu Koranteng
