By Isatou Jalllow
Yankuba Darboe, the Commissioner General of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) linked the numerous successes and Achievements of the GRA to be as a result of the latest innovations and technologies that the Authority introduced.
He said among the innovations is digitalization which has eased and helped GRA to collect the much-needed revenue for the Government.
He also mentioned of efficiency and professionalism of his staff in the discharge of their work which he said are always applied to its expectation, while he spoke at length on the roles and mandates of the Gambia Revenue Authority in national development.
He also explained who is responsible for the expenditure of the revenue collected by GRA. He said in this case, GRA is only mandated to collect and send it to Central Bank but the expenditure except for it is done by Government. “We at the level of GRA every month whatever is collected, “we make sure it reconciled with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs”.
The GRA boss who was speaking on a QTV current affairs program called the State of Affairs last Tuesday spoke on a wide range of issues, he said the role and mandates of GRA far differ from the local Area although there are areas where they can collaborate and complement each other efforts in the best interest of national development.
According to him, GRA has good experience and trained staff that helps the Authority to perform relatively well to mobilize the needed revenue on behalf of the Government for national development.
He emphasized during the show that the Gambia is a tax base economy therefore the country needs to have an institution that is an efficient and productive staff.
Last year, he said, GRA was able to meet its annual revenue target (of a D12.5Billion) despite the numerous challenges caused by Covid-19 but quickly attributed the success to the efficiency and new innovative mechanism put in place by the management of the Gambia Revenue Authority
According to CG Darboe, this year’s annual revenue target for GRA stands at D13.5Billion, and despite all hardships, he said the management of GRA will struggle very hard to ensure that GRA meets the set task annual revenue target for 2022.
