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President Akufo-Addo in June appointed Mr Owusu as GRA board chair after he had retired from the Ghana Maritime Authority[/caption] The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) is demanding of President Nana Akufo-Addo to revoke the controversial appointment of Kwame Owusu as the board chair of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The former Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority was accused of corruption last when he renovated and expanded his two-bedroom official residence into four-bedroom at the cost of 1 million cedis. Mr Owusu was also accused of conflict of interest for paying 10,652.05 cedis to a hotel he owned for providing lunch for 8 persons as lunch and for spending 135, 123 cedis on a 2017 end-of-year party for 200 staff. Public outcry arising out of these decisions caused the government to initiate investigations into the matter but Mr Owusu but four months after, he retired having attained the constitutional retirement age. Outcome of the investigations have till date remained unknown, and just when the matter appeared to be dying off, President Akufo-Addo in a June 18 letter appointed Mr Owusu to chair the board of the GRA. His appointment has been criticised by some Ghanaians who have questioned the Akufo-Addo government’s commitment to fighting corruption. A statement issued Monday on the matter, the GII argued the appointment of Mr Owusu whose integrity is in dispute could have negative implication on the institution he has been appointed to. It held that it was wrong for the President to have appointed someone with questionable character to the country’s main revenue institution. “GII holds the view that, it is out of place to appoint an individual whose integrity has been questioned to the Board of such a sensitive entity as GRA,” it said. It said if the President wants to stand by his decision, he should first publish the report of investigations clearing Mr Owusu of the allegation of conflict of interest and financial misappropriation. “Failure by the President to revoke Mr. Kwame Owusu’s appointment or publish the report that clears him will only contribute to negating all the efforts of GRA to promote voluntary compliance of the country’s tax laws. By 3news.com|Ghana]]>