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Augustine Sefa, Deputy Commissioner, Training and Development at Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has said staff of the Authority would from November 2022 receive information technology training through an e-learning platform.
Mr Sefa who was speaking at the official commencement of the GRA’s IT training centre in Tema said E-learning which was a feature of the centre would enable all its staff across the country to access the needed IT training without having to travel to Accra with its associated financial burden and inconveniences.
He stressed that the need for technology in the discharge of their mandate, could not be overemphasised therefore their resolve through government to provide the needed ultra-modern IT training centre which has e-learning as a component.
The other components of the IT training centre project include the physical structure, to be equipped with the needed logistics, while the other component would cover operational issues such as curriculum and module, as well as a training management system.
Giving some details of the IT project which is expected to be completed and operationalized in November 2022, Mr Sefa said KFW German Bank for Development was funding the project in two parts of 3.5million Euro loan and 1.5million Euro grant.
Mr Sefa said the project started with the signing of both loan and contract agreements between the Governments of Ghana and Germany.
Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu Amoah, Commissioner-General of GRA in a speech read on his behalf by Ms Valerie Ennison, Deputy Commissioner, Transformation Office, noted that the digital strategy fully aligns with the sentiments of accessing transactional data, automation of highly standardized tax activities, taxpayer communication, and optimisation of debt management processes.
Rev. Amoah said the process of digitalisation and modernisation of tax administration must always be carried out with consideration of its basic strategic objective, which he noted was to raise the levels of voluntary compliance by taxpayers.
This he said could be done by making procedures easier for those who wish to comply to do so while carrying out a radical fight against fraud.
He said the Authority was poised to deploy systems to enhance tax administration of electronic services in Ghana such as web-hosting, online shopping, among others in addition to the rent tax system.
He indicated that it was evident that GRA’s digital transformation would require various specific skills ranging from programming, analytics, configuration, and testing, and system integration.
The IT training centre, he said when completed would also provide GRA with the pipeline of talent to provide continuous support for the Authority’s systems including implementation of inevitable change requests that were often raised after a system had been implemented.