The Ghana Community Network Systems (GCNet) has presented a cheque for GHS17million to the Ministry of Finance as the final dividend payment for 2016 and an interim payment for 2017.
The payment is in respect of the final dividend payment for 2016 by virtue of the State’s 20 percent equity stake in GCNet held by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on behalf of the government. This brings to GHS 27 million the total dividend payment made to government through the stake held by GRA.
The Ghana Shippers Authority, GSA, and GCB Bank Limited, both entities with government interest also hold equity shares of 10 percent and five percent respectively.
Presenting the cheque to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Executive Chairman of GCNet, Dr. Nortey Omaboe said the company has pursued a fairly aggressive dividend policy to ensure that government receives what is due it.
“From April 2016 to March 2017 the amount due government was GHS 27 million out of which GHS10 million has been paid already and so we have come here with another cheque for GHS 17million being the final dividend payment for 2016 and an interim dividend for 2017,” he explained.
Omaboe said GCNet has been “extremely consistent” in the area of statutory declarations paying some GHS 35 million as corporate tax for last year in addition to the deployment of systems aimed at supporting government’s revenue mobilization in several dimensions.
Mr. Ofori-Atta in receiving the cheque said “With a budget deficit of some 8.9 percent and trying to bring it down to 6.5 percent, our revenue measures are going to be very critical to our capacity to bring the fiscal consolidation into practice.”
He also commended the addition of some five hundred thousand registered new tax payers in the GCNet system which he believes will further spread the tax net.
The minister called for a look at the consignment valuation which can also help identify some of the loopholes.
He believes limiting human interventions as much as possible with deployment of technology will help solve the recurrent issues of integrity of personnel and systems.
Present at the ceremony were senior officials of the ministry as well as the General Manager of GCNet, Alwin Hoegerle, his deputy Emmanuel Darko and Communications and Corporate Strategy Manager, Aba Lokko.
<<Print>>