The retiring Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah is engaged in intense lobbying within the corridors of power to extend his stay in office this time, on contract.
Sources within government reveal that there has been intense lobbying in the last couple of days by Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah who is bent on retaining the position despite the series of controversies this has sparked.
Questions have however been asked as to why his predecessor Kofi Nti who appeared to have engineered laudable policies to generate revenue for the country was made to go a year and half to his mandatory retirement.
They believe that allowing the current GRA Boss who insiders say, is incompetent to stay, smacks of favoritism on the altar of natural justice urging the president not to be swayed by his last-minute moves.
Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah is due for retirement in October 2021 in the wake of a strong argument that he should be treated as his predecessor Kofi Nti who was forced to leave a year and half to his retirement which paved the way for appointment.
“He retires in October. His predecessor Emmanuel Kofi Nti was left with a year and half to end his term but they sent him away. Why is this man being made to stay?” a Senior Management member who spoke on grounds of strict anonymity revealed.
The GRA Boss has been accused of failing in his administration without any evidence of achievement whatsoever to show, coupled with what many termed as his divide and rule tactics which they indicate are killing the organization.
Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah has further ruffled feathers and sparked a steadily rising agitation in both high and low places over reports that he would continue to be in office.
Calls from both within the GRA, corridors of power and notables within the governing party keep rising for him to leave office when his time is due although there is a small fraction of persons who have their personal interests to protect and therefore are lobbying to have him retained on contract.
“The President is his own man and has the right to retain whoever he wants to retain and mostly such decisions are influenced by the type of reports that bet to his desk. He is human and could make the mistake of retaining Ammishaddai but such a mistake would be a politically suicidal one that is irrevocable, irreparable and catastrophic”, a highly placed source disclosed.
Conflicting Dates of Birth
In the wake of the agitations for him to pave way for a more competent person to take over the affairs of GRA, it is emerging that he operates two conflicting dates of birth.
Whereas his Ghanaian Service Passport Number SX002649, issued on August 7, 2019 and expires on August 6, 2024, has October 1, 1961 as his date of birth, his Curriculum Vitae (CV) also has October 10, 1961 as his date of birth.
It is unclear if this could be blamed on the printer’s devil or deliberate but in any case, he is expected to officially retire in October 2021.
