Customs to engage 5,000 graduates

Five thousand graduates are to be employed under the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) programme to beef up the staff of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Commissioner of the division, Mr Isaac Crentsil, has announced.

He said the biggest challenge facing the division was its limited staff, which had compelled the personnel to work beyond their expectations.

Mr Crentsil was speaking to journalists in Sunyani yesterday after touring border posts in the Brong Ahafo Region to interact with staff and assess their operations.

Places that he visited included Kofi Badukrom, Nkrankwanta, Atuna, Gonokrom, Sampa and Baabianeha.

Unapproved routes

Mr Crentsil explained that the graduates to be engaged would be picked from areas near the border towns to assist the staff to check the numerous unapproved routes along the borders in order to prevent uncustomed goods from entering the country.

According to him, those numerous unapproved routes had made it difficult for staff of the division to check the activities of smugglers.

He said in spite of the current limited number of staff, the country’s borders were safe and commended the staff for working beyond their strength to protect the country.

Paperless system

Touching on the paperless system at the country’s ports, he stated that the system was achieving its objectives.

“The paperless system is working efficiently and all the indicators point to the fact that we are achieving the objectives for which it was set up. The good news is that we are reviewing the system to strengthen it,” he said.

Mr Crentsil said human interaction at the ports had also reduced, while revenue collection had improved, with the cost of doing business reduced.

He thanked chiefs in the various border towns in the region for collaborating with staff of the division to perform their duties.

As part of his visit, Mr Crentsil paid a courtesy call on the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh.