Accra, Ghana(GS). Officials at Ghana’s Presidency, the Ministry of Finance, and the embattled Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), which is currently under a corruption probe by the Office of the Special Prosecutor, (OSP), have been accused of masterminding a huge corruption scheme at the country’s ports.
This has led to the collapse of private businesses in Ghana, depriving the government of the needed tax revenue to improve the deteriorating economic conditions in the country. However, the perpetrators of these alleged corrupt schemes are said to be living lavish lifestyles at the expense of ordinary Ghanaian businessmen and women and the country in general.
Mr. Samson Asaki Awingobit, the Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana made these shocking revelations and allegations in an interview on XYZ TV in Accra.
He added that this corrupt scheme has been in existence for many years, spanning the administrations of both the previous NDC government and the current NPP regime headed by President Akufo-Addo.
Mr. Awingobit fingered officials at the Presidency, the Finance Ministry, and the office of the Commissioner General, (GRA). as being behind these alleged grand corruption schemes. Vehicles and other goods that are confiscated at the Ghana Ports are shared among top officials in those government agencies to enrich themselves, he revealed.
‘Both NDC and NPP should bow their heads in shame because they always look at the juicy aspects; the free cars, free shipping containers that contained imported food items such as canned tomatoes, cooking oil and several other cargo goods’.
The Executive Secretary of Ghana Importers and Exporters Association explained that whenever members of his Association approach the Ports Authority to pay for their confiscated goods and applicable taxes to get them cleared, it shows in the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority, (GPHA), system that those goods have already been cleared by officials at either the Presidency or the Finance Ministry to the surprise of importers.
“Someone has imported frozen foods, tomatoes, and cooking oil, and because the goods have been at the port for 21 days or in some instances less, you will auction it. When you go into the system you will realize that Jubilee House, (seat of government), has a hand in it, officials of the Finance ministry have a hand in it, and the Commissioner general has a hand in it”, the infuriated Executive disclosed.
According to Mr. Awingobit, after the goods are seized by the officials at the three agencies, they are shared among party apparatchiks. “So the Customs officer will be there and someone will bring a letter and say I am from the Presidency or Ministry of Finance. I am supposed to come for these items. To the extent that we have seen Deputy Ministers of Finance signing letters for Customs Officers to hand over particular goods to people”, Mr. Awingobit claimed.
It appears the extent of corruption at the highest level of the government is rampant, to say the least. On Monday, August 22, 2022, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, (OSP), issued a press release announcing the commencement of a corruption probe into the activities of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, (GRA), headed by Colonel Kwadwo Damoah, (Rtd.). The OSP has requested receipts of all vehicles auctioned by the agency, as well as addresses of all people who purchased those vehicles between July 2016 and August 2022.
