Forty-nine Senior Cadets have passed out after basic paramilitary and customs training at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Academy at Kpetoe in the Volta Region.
Made up of 33 males and 16 females, the cadets will be posted as Assistant Revenue Officers which is senior officer position.
Checking smuggling
Addressing the parade, the Commissioner of the Customs Division of the GRA, Colonel Kwadwo Damoah (Retd.), who was the reviewing officer, tasked officers of the division to tackle the menace of smuggling with all seriousness.
He said smuggling had a negative impact on the country’s development and must be fought with all the force at the disposal of the officers.
He said cocoa, seedlings and fertiliser were some of the commodities that drove the country’s agriculture and it was very important that Customs, working with the other sister security services, secured the borders to prevent their smuggling.
Revenue
Col. Damoah said the country needed enough revenue to be able to undertake developmental projects such as the Agenda 111, and therefore called for stricter measures to ensure discipline in the service.
He said that Customs was a revered security service because it provided both finance and security.
Therefore, its officers must not compromise their duty, but serve the nation with all diligence.
"You must not lose sight of the fact that you are part of the National Security architecture; your role is therefore going to be pivotal to the success of national economic planning, development and growth,” he told the officers.
The commissioner commended the officers of the division for their hard work in ensuring that the country exceeded its revenue target of GHc1.6 billion in 2020.
He added that though the country's economy was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, it stood tall by exceeding its revenue target.
Col. Damoah, therefore, called on the graduating senior cadets to work with their superiors to ensure that the revenue target of GHc18 billion for 2021, was achieved.
"You are coming at a time when the pandemic has thrown the country in disarray to help raise the various sectors in the country back to their feet. We must ensure that the revenue target set for us is raised," he added.
Technology
Col. Damoah entreated customs officers to embrace technology to improve their skills and build expertise with regard to the new world of technologies.
That, he said, would enforce stricter response to matters related to Customs.
Tolls
Col. Damoah assured them of the GRA's support to provide the requisite tools needed to enable them to render their services to the state.
Senior Cadet Stephen Joshua Agah was adjudged the best trainee and received an award for that.