The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) with technical support from International Monetary Fund on Monday commenced a three weeks rigorous training for senior’s customs officers to enhance their capacity to adopt best international standards.
The training was funded by Africa Tax Administration (ATAF) a regional tax administration body that build capacity among member countries to share experiences and knowledge in tax matters.
The training was also in recognition of the pivotal roles that customs officers play in our society in the collection of taxes for national development. These particularly training is meant to enable customs officers familiarizes themselves on the challenges face during their daily operation in the collection of taxes.
Speaking at the opening ceremony the Commissioner General of GRA Mr. Yankuba Darboe explained that the main objective of this training of customs officer is to allow tax administrators to understand international standards and be engaged on tax international platform so that their capacity can be enhanced and develop with good practices.
According to him, taxation is widely recognized as a core issue in developing countries both in its own right as a source generating revenue for emerging economies.
He said, for the public to be paying tax is important as its can contribute to sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the national development plan (NDP) in building democratic institutions.
Ousman Bah, Head of Corporate Services at GRA said ATAF is collaborating with GRA to build capacities of staffs adding that recently ATAF formed a regional network on tax reporters which the Gambian chapter will be launched soon.
He said the corporate unit of GRA have be conducting tax sensitization forum through tax forums and talk shows on community radios to raise public awareness on tax compliance.
He challenges the customs officers to take this training serious as this will greatly impact to their livelihood.
