Some staff of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) under the Customs Division have embarked on a health and fitness walk to promote healthy living as they prepare for the second half of the year.

The walk, organised by the welfare association of Customs Technical Service Bureau (CTSB) and preventive unit at the headquarters was aimed at helping Customs Officers build new relations and forge stronger bonds among the Customs Officers in various units at the headquarters.

The over 8 kilometres walk which took place in Accra on Saturday, August 3, 2024 started from the headquarters at 5:30 am, went through some principal streets in Accra and ended at 8:30 am where an aerobics session, health talk and medical checks followed.

The second edition of the health and fitness walk saw scores of Customs Officers and their families in attendance.

It was on the theme: “A healthier workforce for revenue mobilisation.”

It was also followed with a health talk and free health screening by Tiens Company and Blue Sky.

Present at the walk was, the Commissioner General of the GRA, Julie Essiam; Head of Customs Technical Service Bureau, Assistant Commissioner Rosemary Addo-Parker; and the Deputy Commissioner in Charge of Operation, Emmanuel Ohene.

Speaking after the walk, the Commissioner General of GRA, Julie Essiam underscored the importance of embarking on the health walk to foster collaboration among staff while adding that without a good and healthy workforce revenue collection would be tedious.

“When the new management team came on board, we have spoken to a strong pillar of collaboration with all of you, with our taxpayers, but also GRA. There's importance in collaboration and teamwork. This is what the health walk demonstrates and exemplifies,” she said.

She noted that the walk offered “an amazing opportunity for the entire Customs Division to come together to recognise the importance of health, teamwork, and fundamentally why we wake up every morning to come here”.

She added that although there would always be bottlenecks with respect to some officials, the GRA has instituted the necessary measures to curtail every bottleneck to achieve the revenue target. 

Ms Essiam commended Customs Officers for their loyalty and determination over the past six months which culminated in achieving the mid-year revenue target.

She encouraged management and staff of GRA to maintain a great deal of commitment and determination to achieve the revenue target for this year.

Awareness

Head of Customs Technical Service Bureau, Assistant Commissioner Rosemary Addo-Parker said the annual initiative termed as “CTSB Prevetive Daycation” was to help create awareness on revenue mobilisation and ensure staff in their departments and units were healthy.

She added the officers in the line of their duty do not often get the liberty to undergo regular medical checks which made the initiative very important to allow their staff to know the details of their health and proffer medical solutions to this effect. 

“We want to make sure that our staff are very healthy. We hardly get time for personal medical checks. Even though once in a while the authorities organise some checks for us, people don't really get the time. We want to bring to their doorstep to undertake the eye screening, the medical checks, and then the talks on how to keep your healthy kidney and others,” she said.

She added that the event would be institutionalised to become an annual ritual at the CTSB and Preventive Unit in order to foster unity and stronger bond among Customs Officers as a team in the discharge of their mandate to achieve yearly revenue target.