We would exceed revenue targets - CEPS

Bolgatanga, Dec. 2, GNA- Senior Officers of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) at the weekend said the service would exceed its annual revenue target of 16.617 Trillion Cedis this year.

Mr Junior Appiah-Warden, Chairman of the Senior Staff Association, CEPS (SSACEPS) who spoke on behalf of the Officers at their 17th Annual Delegates Conference in Bolgatanga, said, "if we put in our best and worked hard during this last month, we would make it".

"For the past two years running, CEPS has always marginally trailed its annual revenue set targets, but this year we shall break this jinx and exceed the set target", he said.

He explained that Tema, a major revenue collection point recorded very good collections in all the past months except April and October and hoped that since December yields most of the revenue they collect in a year, there was every indication that they would exceed the target this year.

Mr. Appiah-Warden appealed to the Government to resource CEPS adequately to enable it to build up the capacity to lead other revenue collecting agencies to generate more funds on sustainable bases.

Mr Appiah-Warden suggested to the Management of CEPS to design anti-corruption educational strategies such as welfare packages, good remuneration and social systems that would ensure that the customs officer was well catered for.

"By so doing we shall be building the robust and anti-corruptible Officer that Ghana needs, and beyond active service CEPS Officials should not become paupers", he said.

He regretted the past bribery case involving CEPS Officers, saying, "We of SSACEPS condemn all acts of malfeasance within the service", and urged the Officers to refrain from such acts in the performance of their functions.

He called for a humane way of handling certain corrupt cases; saying that, the arrest, media publication, and public tongue-lashing only dampened the morale of all Officers and drastically affected revenue collection for the month of October. He appealed to manufacturing companies and importers especially those in the textile and tobacco industries to support CEPS with logistics to enable them check smuggling.