Ports, custom checkpoints need CCTV

Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo in the Ashanti region and a ranking member of Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance, has expressed serious concerns over massive leakages in revenue generation in the country.

He said if government were to be more watchful and alert and seal those revenue leakages, sanity would be restored to government’s expenditure.

Contributing to a motion on 2013 annual estimates for the Ministry of Finance on the floor of parliament on Thursday, Dr Akoto Osei said if the government could install closed circuit television (CCTV) at the various ports and all customs posts, revenue generation could increase by 30 percent.

He said when CCTVs are installed at such major revenue points, the pilfering will stop and custom will rake in the required revenue for government’s spending.

On the Accountant-General’s Department which according to him spends so much of the taxpayers’ money, the MP said government must take a critical look at re-structuring the department and personnel who work there.

He wondered how a whole specialised department could have a workforce of about 4,000 and only 184 of them would be certified accountants.

“Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable, we cannot expect the rest of the workforce who do not have any training and expertise in that area to do the right thing.” According to him, it is better to halve the workforce and employ qualified people who would be paid well for them to do the right thing.

He said it was not surprising that people always hear of ghost names appearing on pay slips at the Accountant-General’s department.

He noted that the department was given GH¢30 million last year to spend and this year it has been given about GH¢34 million which is equivalent to $17 million, stressing that there should be qualified people to avoid mismanagement.

He also advocated that personnel working with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) must be qualified so that proper management would be expected of them.

He advised the finance ministry to be meticulous in the figures they present to parliament because over the past years there had been inconsistencies in the figures in the budget document.