By Maimuna Sey-Jawo
The customs manager attached to Basse customs post Mr. Buba Ceesay has disclosed that the border closure between Guinea Conakry and Senegal has impacted negatively for the collection of revenue in the Upper River region. He was quick to say that the closure was due to the on-going political crises at Guinea Conakry.
He raised this concern while delivering a welcoming remark at the GRA board of directors and senior management tour meeting held in Basse office over the weekend.
According to Mr. Ceesay, in term of revenue it is unfortunate scenario that is happening at the moment for the fact that Basse is a station and is an entering point to the entire ECOWAS region.
“However, as we all know The Gambia main counterpart is Guinea Conakry and already there is a political issues affecting our sister countries, Mr. Ceesay said.
Because of the issue Guinea Conakry, he said, decided to close their borders with all sister countries.
He said just recently Guinea Conakry opened border with Mali and until today Guinea do not open their border with Senegal which has greatly affected revenue collection in URR.
According to Mr. Ceesay, Gambia is the main transit in the sub-region and if borders are close it will cause negative impact in our revenue performance in The Gambia, particularly in the Upper River Region which is the main entrant
According to Mr. Ceesay, the few monies revenue collected is normally from those coming from Guinea Conakry to Mali. He said due to this factor, he is not proud to declared Basse Customs Post revenue performance for this year. “We hope that this will change soon or later in the sense that there is on-going dialogue between the countries to make sure that ECOWAS protocol is observed to ensure free movement of goods and peoples in the sub-region”. Mr. Ceesay stated.
He used the opportunity to raised varieties of concerns and constraints affecting their operation, thus, lack of enough personnel in Basse Customs Post. The customs Manager who spoke on behalf of his staff appealed to GRA board and senior management through the CG office to help his office more personnel to enable them effectively and efficiently collect the much needed revenue for Government.