By Saidou Baldeh
The Gambia Revenue Authority and the Gambia Police Force Tuesday signed an agreement fostering mutual working relationship between the two institutions.
The Commissioner General of the Gambia Revenue Authority, Yankuba Darboe, said the agreement will promote relationship between the police and GRA and provide cooperation which will create a joint control and investigation team.
“The agreement will include the establishment of a cooperation committee that will comprise officers of both institutions. It will also identify the role of each institution and require each party on the request of the other to provide information that will further the objective of the agreement,” CG Darboe said.
He said the agreement will provide future collaborations in the areas of capacity building and build understanding that will be based on respect.
“I hope that this agreement will strengthen the already existing relation between GRA and GPF. The two institutions are established by an Act of parliament and they all have a role to play to complement each other’s work. As you know the police are paid from the tax GRA is collecting but we cannot collect revenue without peace and security,” he charged.
Also speaking at the signing ceremony, the Inspector General of Police Mamour Jobe, described the agreement as a moment of joy “particularly for the young ones coming”.
IGP Jobe thanked GRA for accepting to go into such an agreement with the police and assured the tax authority of his office’s smooth working relationship.
“No institution can do it alone. This country belongs to all of us; it is our duty to contribute to ensuring peace. If there is no peace, we cannot have any development and businesses cannot also strive,” he added.
Speaking shortly after the signing ceremony, the adviser to the IGP, Seyaka Sonko, said the agreement was a product of weeks of engagements between the two institutions.
He said the agreement will ensure close working relations between officials and managements of the two institutions.
“The agreement will cement the already mutual working relationship between the two institutions. I urge both parties to implement the agreement as agreed,” he said.
The GRA deputy commissioner general, Essa Jallow, described the agreement as the first of its kind in the history of the tax authority and the policing body.
“In the past we have been doing a lot of things together but this agreement will provide a framework for cooperation and support between the two institutions. I hope that other institutions are going to learn from this because we are all in one government,” he added.
