By Kebba AF Touray
A Gambian delegate comprising five officials from the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) and headed by the Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe, recently returned from the 5th African Tax Administrative General Assembly meeting in Botswana.
The general assembly conference was based on the theme:- ‘Moving Africa beyond AID through Tax Revenue Mobilization.’ The conference commenced on the 23rd of October 2018 in Gaborone.
According to Malamin Jatta, the Tax Manager and ATAF country correspondent, the first day of the conference started with meetings of the technical committee; that this year’s conference started with committees on cross border taxation CBT, Exchange of Information and VAT, and this was followed by the Council of ATAF and donor consultation meetings.
According to Jatta amongst the many contributions made by members of the Gambian delegation, the Commissioner General being one of the panellist, made an impressive presentation during the sixth session on the topic:- ‘New challenges and GRA opportunities. Improving voluntary compliance in Africa.’ This followed an earlier presentation during the fourth session, by the deputy commissioner General and Head of domestic Tax, Essa Jallow, with the topic:- ‘Preparing ATAF for the next decade. Reinforcing our engagement with members and development partners.’
The ATAF country correspondent used the opportunity to thank members for supporting the event and to ensure that Gambians participated. By extension, he commended Government of the Gambia for clearance accorded to them, to enable them participate in the General Assembly meeting.
The Conference, brought together Heads and Senior Officials of African Tax Administrations and Ministries of Finance, representatives of international and continental organizations, and development partners, as well as those from the private sector and academic institutions working in the tax area.
