Personnel of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), have been asked to make integrity the bedrock of their work to redeem the sinking image of the profession.
He said the only way to reverse the negative perception of the public about the profession was for the personnel to work according to the international standards.
Mr Desmond Isaac Abbey, the new Aflao Sector Commander of the Division, made the call at a day’s Image Repair forum for the personnel at Aflao.
The forum, dubbed “New Image of Aflao Collection,” and on the theme: “Integrity, Ethics and Procedures Applicable at the border,”
was attended by about 70 officers.
“Our image has sunk very low and we need to redeem it; the public would have to see us as a reformed institution especially at Aflao”,
Mr Abbey said.
He told the personnel to have the interest of the country at heart as they performed their duties fairly and transparently to maximize revenue and facilitate trade and security.
Mr Kwaw Anyimia, Chief Collector in charge of the Kpoglu post, who took the forum through International Standards Organization and
Corporate Strategic Planning, asked the personnel to do the right thing to prevent deficiencies.
He said that forming taskforces to intercept goods was largely unnecessary if due diligence was employed in the handling of goods adding that “If prevention goes up defects would decline”.
Mr Anyimia said the Division would have collapsed due to poor management as some other organizations, but for the monopoly and the
public support it enjoyed.
Mrs Augustina Quaye, Chief Collector in charge of the Long Room of Division, who spoke on ethics and customer care, noted that unprofessional attitudes and bad approach to customers could also
promote smuggling and the drifting of customers to other stations or countries to the detriment of the country’s revenue.