Monrovia – The Commissioner General of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Elfrieda Stewart Tamba has lauded the European Union for its invaluable support towards strengthening the LRA Customs Department, aimed at improving trade facilitation and boosting customs revenue.
Commissioner General Tamba said the LRA is particularly appreciative of the Long Term Technical Assistance to the Customs Department and stressed the need for further support to cover the Domestic Tax Department, in transforming revenue administration in Liberia, and making the LRA a modern tax entity.
The EU is funding a Long Term Technical Assistance up to October 2018 to the Customs Department of LRA at the cost of approximately US$2.3 million.
The Commissioner General was speaking Monday, October 31, 2016, when the EU Ambassador to Liberia, Her Excellency Tiina Intelmann, along with two parliamentarians from Estonia, paid an acquaintance visit with the LRA to hold discussions with the Senior Management.
The two Estonian parliamentarians included Hon Mart Nutt and Hon. Mati Raidma head and deputy head of Friendship Group respectively. The Estonian parliamentarian delegation is in the country to tour and inspect projects being supported by the EU as well as those specifically funded by Estonia. Estonia is a member of the EU.
The LRA, in September 2016, signed an MOU with the Estonian Revenue Agency to support LRA modernization program, including working with the National Legislature to introduce e-governance in Liberia—the purpose for which the delegation met with the National Legislature.
Providing an update on the LRA 5-year Corporate Strategic Plan (CSP) and the progress of the Authority, CG Tamba highlighted the launched of the 5-year CSP and noted that the LRA has performed well over the last two fiscal periods with respect to its prime mandate, surpassing its revenue collection targets and made positive strides on some of its modernization outcomes.
CG Tamba however emphasized that the LRA could do much better as its enormous challenges are addressed through external and internal support.
The CG identified key challenges of LRA as weak management information systems including its wide area network, poor field infrastructure including lack of necessary equipment at customs ports and domestic tax field offices, limited technical capacity, and lack of effective tax administration systems such as e-payment, e-filing, and electronic tax registers.
She also outlined low level of tax consciousness and compliance, tax evasion, the lack of appropriate budgetary allocation to support the necessary transformation, sustain revenue growth and the protection thereof.
CG Tamba told Ambassador Intelmann and the Estonian delegation that possible areas for the EU collaboration include support to improve infrastructure of rural offices, expand taxpayers services delivery through investment in technology and in the decentralized locations, strengthening the MIS infrastructure to improve system uptime, investment in technology to improve service delivery, doing business rating, revenue protection, e-tax services, disaster recovery system, and implementation of its comprehensive transformation and modernization implementation.
Amb Intelmann welcomed the progress at the LRA and, along with the two parliamentarians, made several inquiries covering tax compliance, risk and strategies being applied by the LRA to reach taxpayers and the response by the public to paying taxes.
CG Tamba and deputies then led the Amb. Intelmann and the two parliamentarians on a guided tour of its Data Center, Taxpayers Services Unit, including the Tax Payment Center, explaining how these important segments of the LRA function as well as the challenges being experienced. The Data Center was funded by the UNDP.
West African Electricity Regulators, Operators, Others to Converge in Ouagadougou
Major players in the electricity sector in ECOWAS Member States, including regulators, operators, and representatives of the Ministries of Energy and their counterparts from the Finance Ministries, will meet in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe capital, to push forward the agenda of the soon-to-be-launched Regional Electricity Market.
They will be meeting on 16th November 2016 at the 5th Electricity Regulatory Forum organized by ERERA in collaboration with the national electricity regulator of Burkina Faso (ARSE) under the theme “Realizing the ECOWAS regional electricity market: Opportunities and Challenges.”
The forum “will afford us an opportunity to focus on the numerous electricity-related issues facing our region. We have huge but unevenly spread potentials, and we have to be smart”, said ERERA’s Chairman, Professor Honoré Bogler.
“Several years ago, our Heads of State determined that the region should pool resources and exploit and distribute them for the benefit of our peoples”, he stated.
Professor Bogler said electricity regulation remains largely unknown to the people and authorities in West Africa.
He therefore expressed the hope that the forum would enable regulators to convince policy makers that electricity regulation is the best way to addressing many of the power challenges in Africa.
Part of ERERA’s mandate is to assist ECOWAS Member States without national electricity regulators to set up their own and contribute meaningfully to the development of the region.
The 5th Forum will be preceded by a two-day meeting of ERERA’s Consultative Committees of Regulators and Operators, also in Ouagadougou.
Participants at this consultative committee meeting will review the Regional Electricity Market Procedures rules, ERERA Rules of Practice and Procedure and will be presented the final draft of the Model Bilateral Contracts for the Regional Electricity Market.