By Isatou Jallow
Mr. Yankuba Darboe, Commissioner General Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) has urged 25 trainees of the authority to take the five-day training on revenue laws and other issues related to tax matters seriously.
The capacity building is organized by the GRA’s Legal and Board Services department and it brought together staff from various units of the authority and is meant to raise more awareness on a better understanding of the revenue laws administered by the authority.
With funding from the French Development Agency (AFD), this is the third-edition training, which seeks to enhance participants’ understanding of Gambia revenue laws
CG Darboe urged that it is also important for revenue officers to understand the laws that are within the authority’s purview, especially within the authority’s act be it VAT and other laws.
He further said training is meant to impact participants with required operational knowledge of the authority, noting staff needs to be well equipped with all necessary knowledge before facing the public.
He commended FDA for funding most of the authority training while he also thanked the media for playing a crucial role in informing and educating Gambia citizens on issues related to taxes and laws administered by the authority.
Mr. Ebrima Sallah, deputy head legal department of GRA noted that as a revenue officer, you have to be condescending with the laws that the authority is administering.
He pointed out that you cannot impose a tax without a law, saying that this is the fostering point because constitutionally, no taxes shall be imposed without an act of parliament.
For his part, Yahya Manneh Director of Technical Services and also doubled as director of Domestic Resource Mobilization project GRA’s, also thanked the AFD for continuous support and urged participants to fully take part in the deliberation as well as urging them to ask many questions to trainers, to clear their doubts on revenue laws and issues related to the laws administered by GRA.