The NRA in Sierra Leone’s development efforts

Economic recovery for a post war country is a difficult and Herculean task, more so when viewed from the perspective of the collective responsibility of the citizenry of such a country. Sierra Leone is in a post war reconstruction drive and from a practically standpoint, things appear to have moved hundreds, if not thousands of miles in terms of socio-economic and political development. This trend is expected to continue.

Despite the numerous challenges facing this government, I hold the view that President Koroma has been scoring political marks that may guarantee his re-election in 2012. I am not campaigning for him as a matter of fact but I am only observing things based on what is happening at the moment.  In the fight against corruption, he has made some gains, in the provision of electricity, serious marks have been scored there et al areas. The role of certain state institutions in the progress of Sierra Leone cannot be overemphasised. One of such institutions is the NRA.  

It should be seen helping government in mobilising revenue for the full and smooth implementation of development programmes. In the revenue generation effort by the government, there has been great success during the last few years and this is as a result of the overwhelming performance of the National Revenue Authority. The National Revenue Authority is charged with the responsibility of mustering domestic revenue to fund national developments undertaken by governments, be they past or present. It is in a way, helping government directly or indirectly to addressing the problem of economic dependency.  When the NRA is able to generate hundreds of billions of Leones as was the case last year, the development agenda of the government could be fulfilled.

The 2002 NRA Act authorizes the NRA to accumulate both direct and indirect tax revenues. And the level at which the NRA has arrived in this venture is encouraging. Let me attempt to give figures here; for last year alone, the institution was able to generate well over six hundred billion Leone exceeding its revenue target for 2009. The total revenue collected and banked during January – December of 2009 amounted to Le 698.780 billion which exceeded the Authority’s yearly target of Le 671.390 billion by Le 27.390 billion (or 4.1%). This outstanding performance by the NRA is as a result of the commitment of NRA staff in performing their functions, and also to the collaboration thee NRA has been getting from its valued taxpayers.

The Customs and Excise Department of the NRA is one of the key operationaldepartments of the Authority. It has done well in recent times and still continues to do well. Last year alone, it exceeded its yearly target of Le 404.998 billion by Le 14.197 billion. Not only that it is at the moment working on plans for the full implementation of the Automated System for Customs Data, an automated system of clearing goods at the Queen Elizabeth Quay.  And because of this outstanding performance by the NRA, with support from the DFID, the Koindu Customs Posts have been reopened, thus adding value to what the NRA stands for.

NRAs Kallah Kamara, Acting Commissioner General

Koindu, a once economically viable part of Sierra Leone has been opened and handed over to the NRA by DFID. Koindu used to generate huge revenue for government, but for the civil war in Sierra Leone.   The reconstruction of the border posts in that part of the country was one of the important deliverables provided for in the Project document of the original DFID support to the NRA Project initiated in 2005. Under that support, a provision of £225,000 was made available for particularly the reconstruction of the Customs Boarder Posts at Koindu and Buedu.

Koindu used to be a meeting point for business people from across West African countries including Liberia, Guinea, and Ivory Cost mainly for trading purposes.  There used to be a regular flow of business in Koindu, through the Koindu international market. But that was before the war that erupted in 1991. With the recent opening of the posts, it will also be of assistance in ensuring security checks along our borders.

But the success of the posts in Koindu depends on our regional integration with other countries. When the posts were being commissioned recently in Koindu, there was, particularly the presence of Liberian Customs Officials who also made statements. Also in presence were official from Guinea.  No need denying the point that when there is a poor flow of information between and among countries, it becomes difficult for customs officials to effective track down smugglers and increase ion revenue for government. NRA’s Haja Kallah Kamara, during the commissioning did speak on the need for regional collaboration and this message was well accepted by officials from Guinea and Liberia.

The Goods and Services Tax is at the moment almost being appreciated by the people of this country.  With constant and continuous public education efforts embarked upon by the NRA on the GST especially so in collaboration with our Parliamentarians, much is now been achieved; and thanks to Mercury International for body coming out to pay over two hundred million Leones to the NRA, something that has justified the need for all other business people to do likewise.

There have been nationwide public education efforts, undertaken by the NRA on the Goods and Services Tax. And civil society groups have also been supporting the NRA in reaching the people with the GST message; I heard them forty-eight hours ago on air, explaining to people the relevance of GST, likewise our religious bodies. And this shows that Sierra Leone is at a crossing point in terms of achieving sustainable economic development.  You may want to enquire of the Income Tax Department; it performance for last year was exemplary and beyond expectation and there they are, set to also perform more than they did last year. You only would need to do a comparative analysis of what the Non Tax Revenue was done and is now doing for you top get a clearer picture of its strides in the past couple of years, in the revenue mobilisation efforts of the NRA for the central government.

Yes, based on want I have seen in recent times, I boldly would say, much has happened within the NRA in terms of meeting its core function of revenue mobilisation. Despite these success stories, there are challenges like addressing revenue leakages, but no doubt with the coming into effect of ASYCUDA, this problem with be handled.  There is also the challenge of constantly reaching the public and this; a lesson has been learnt from the GST. And there appears now to be a positively ‘aggressive’ public reaching effort that has been embarked upon by the NRA and this is encouraging. But in a whole there is a brighter future for this country with the NRA in perspective.

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