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| toubab1020 |
Posted - 14 Dec 2014 : 22:34:11
The Point has disappointed me here.
This newspaper was doing a great job in communicating news to the population of the Gambia,the average Gambian.
What has happened ? this reporter Abdoulie Nyockeh appears not to have the slightest idea on how to interact with the average Gambian and impart to him/her news about his/her county.
Read this full article,what on earth is he (Abdoulie Nyockeh)
writing about ? acronyms, politico speak, unintelligible gobbledygook,all put on a page.
Have a read yourself make up your own mind,join the farmer on north bank as he tries his hardest to make sense of this.
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Friday, December 12, 2014
Thirty customs officers of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) are on intensive training in awareness creation on the Common External Tariff (CET), ahead of commencement of its implementation in January 2015.
The training session was organised under the auspices of the GRA, and funded by the European Union and German government. It is being implemented by GIZ.
The training course was held to sensitize the officers on CET, whose implementation process is expected to commence in 2015 across ECOWAS member states.
Speaking at the training venue, at the authority’s head office in Banjul, Alieu Ceesay, GRA Deputy Commissioner Technical Services, said The Gambia was set to join the rest of ECOWAS countries in implementing the CET, effective January 2015.
The implementation is expected to bring along many benefits, such as increased market access, investment flows, reduction in production costs, increased economic growth and employment, lower smuggling, reduced political tension across the border, increased trade inflows in the medium to long term, and increased efficiency and competiveness in the industrial sector, he added.
Ceesay said the CET is meant to harmonise the heritage of member states within the region to bring about more improvement in the economies of member states to improve the lives of their citizens.
In view of this fact, he continued, GRA deemed it important at this time, before the actual implementation in January 2015, to sensitize both customs officers and the business community on the CET.
Mr Ceesay further challenged the participants to take the training course seriously, “as customs is the lifeblood of all economies in our region.”
“We are the front-runner in terms of regional integration in mobilising revenue,” he said, adding that customs officers should take advantage of the training exercise.
Kelech Okoro, Tariff coordinator of GIZ consultants on the Common External Tariff (CET) implementation of ECOWAS, explained that GIZ is an agency under the ECOWAS commission implementing these structures.
He said the purpose of coming to The Gambia was to give support ahead of the implementation process of the ECOWAS CET.
Two years ago, the customs administrations of 15 member states of ECOWAS and ECOWAS Commission came together to discuss the modalities in implementing the CET by January 2015.
Joseph Findin Njie, customs manager, Tariff and classification, who also doubles as the national focal point for the implementation of the CET External Tariff, thanked the EU and German government for funding the training exercise to enhance delivery of customs services.
According to Mr Njie, implementation of the CET in the country might also pose some challenges that would affect GRAin its goal of maximising revenue mobilization, as it would eliminate the little advantage the country has over other-regional countries in terms of the low import tariffs.
Thus, the government and the GRA must develop some coping strategies to mitigate the effects of the CET implementation, he said.
Author: Abdoulie Nyockeh
http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/gra-trains-customs-officers-on-tariff-implementation |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| toubab1020 |
Posted - 15 Dec 2014 : 18:17:04
Thank you, The Point for providing a translation of the piece written by Abdoulie Nyockeh on Friday 12th December,my imaginary North Bank Farmer friend can now read and have a discussion on this topic now,he and I can understand.Thanks again.
FULL TRANSLATION HERE:
Keep it up GRA!
africa » gambia
Monday, December 15, 2014
The Gambia Revenue Authority has set a Strategic Plan covering the period 2015 - 2019, which is central to achieving various national policy objectives, as well as augment GRA performance in revenue collection.
Over the last three weeks or so, the GRA has embarked on training senior officials and customs officers to enhance their professionalism in discharging their duties for the public good.
The Authority has also joined hands with several financial and public institutions in making collection or payment of taxes and revenue very simple and hassle-free by taking it to the doorsteps of taxpayers across the country.
The Authority is also rolling out a scheme and programme of recognising and applauding those corporate bodies that honour and diligently pay their taxes properly and on time. One such activity is about to be staged this weekend at one of the hotels in Senegambia.
The Authority is taking all these steps and measures to encourage all and sundry, especially corporate bodies, to pay taxes and uphold such a value, as it is for the good of all in the society.
According to the GRA Strategic Plan 2015-2019, the key role GRA will play in achieving the country’s policy objectives include helping the government to meet the bulk of its Recurrent Expenditures.
Indeed, the GRA’s revenue generation capacity is targeted to grow rapidly over the PAGE period by leveraging on the envisaged rapid economic growth, modernizing and simplifying revenue laws, to ensure easy understanding and interpretation of the laws for better compliance management.
It also out to leverage on the country’s ICTinfrastructure to simplify and moderniseour business process andprocedures, promotion of border security, regional integration and trade facilitation through continual engagement of stakeholders locally and regionally, and facilitating improvement in SME taxation.
It is, however, essential to note that the vision, mission and core values of GRA have to be upheld, as the authority has been conducting its affairs and operations over time, especially in recent months.
The GRA should continue to play its role both nationally and in the region, especially on the Common External Tariffs (CET) a training course on which it just wrapped up for 60 customs officers.
The Gambia is set to join the rest of ECOWAS countries in implementing the CET, with effect from January 2015.
The implementation is expected to bring along many benefits, such as increased market access, investment flows, reduction in production costs, increased economic growth and employment, lower smuggling, reduced political tension across the border, increased trade inflows in the medium to long term, and increased efficiency and competiveness in the industrial sector.
CET is also meant to harmonise the heritage of member states within the region to bring about more improvement in the economies of member states to improve the lives of their citizens.
GRA deems it important at this time, before the actual implementation in January 2015, to sensitize both customs officers and the business community on the CET.
This is good, and we encourage the GRA to keep it up.
“I believe in taxation and health care that is outside the usual libertarian mandate, because I don’t want people to have to suffer. It’s as simple as that.”  
Neil Peart
http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/keep-it-up-gra |
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