The Government has concluded an arrangement for a public-private partnership with the GCNet to undertake a nationwide automation of revenue agencies in the country, the Minister of Communication, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has announced.

He said the move was aimed at promoting transparency and speed in tax assessment and revenue mobilisation.

Mr Iddrisu listed the revenue agencies to be automated  to include the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Value Added Tax Service(VAT) and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board(RAGB).

He was speaking at the inauguration of a Ministerial Advisory Board for the Ministry of Communication in Accra.
The board is made up of the Minister of Communication as chairman, Mr Gideon Quarcoo, Deputy Minister of Communication, member, and Mr K. Ofosu-Adarkwa, Chief Director, member.

The other members are Mr Benard Forson, Dr Samuel Somuah, Director-General, National Information Technology Agency; Mr Michael M. Tanu, Director-General, Ghana Meteorological Agency; Ms Dorothy Gordon, Director-General Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence; Mr Leslie Tamakloe, a representative of Ghana Internet Services Providers Association; Mr Philip Sowah,  Managing Director of Zain and representative of Telecom Operators; Mr K.A Hayford, a representative of Ghana Association of Software and IT Services Companies, and Commander P.M.G Griffiths (retd), member.

The legal desk officer of the ministry, Ms Teeki Akuetteh, would serve as the secretary/recorder for the board.

Mr Iddrisu said the vision of the government was to promote citizenry inclusiveness in policy formulation and implementation process in line with the principles of openness and accountability enshrined in the manifesto of the governing party.

He said it was because of the commitment of the government to utilise the consultative process in governance that the President had directed attention to the need to have the Ministerial Advisory Board in place.

Mr Iddrisu explained that the span of consultation had been widened to include representatives from the private sector with whom the ministry relates in addition to public sector entities.

He said the move was to give opportunity for the government to tap the knowledge and expertise of the private sector so that adequate attention and support could be given to that sector to open up employment and wealth creation avenues.

Mr Iddrisu said the ministry’s policy direction was to promote the use of shared services among Ministries, Departments and Agencies with technical assistance from Huawei and the extension of high speed broadband capacity to all district capitals, as well as facilitate linkage to over 550 MDAs.

He said an e-parliament and e-immigration, as well as the e-form platforms, would also be implemented on a unified ICT platform.

Mr Iddrisu said a national data centre would be established in the course of the year to enhance data storage and processing in the country.

He said a national internet registry would also be developed to guide the national migration and help increase capacity for internet addresses and also deal with security concerns associated with the provision of internet service.

He said the National Communications Authority had been legally empowered to effectively collaborate with telecom operators to work towards the development of a reliable telephone clearing house database.

Mr Iddrisu said it was their hope that the system would help control “grey routes” and thereby enhance both operator and government revenue generation potential in the domestic and international telecom marketplace.

Source: Daily Graphic

Tags: automation, gcnet, irs, Minister of Communication, vat