Information reaching Techfocus24 indicates that the 61-year-old newly named Commissioner General (CG) of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Julie Essiam had no formal appointment letter for both her former and current positions.
Until she was named CG, Julie Essiam was Head of Support Services Department (SSD) at GRA, a position she held for about four years, allegedly without a formal appointment letter. And she comes into the GRA top job with a retirement age of 61, again, without a formal appointment letter because the Board Chair, Oteng Gyasi refused to approve of her questionable appointment.
The Board Chair opted to resign in protest of her appointment, while board members were kept completely in the dark about the whole move until they read it the news when Techfocus24 broke the story.
The Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who chastised GRA recently for publicly going after corporate tax defaulters, is said to have also been kept in the dark about the removal of Dr. Owusu-Amoah and subsequent appointment of Julie Essiam.
Techfocus24 also learnt that about three years ago, Julie Essiam’s position as Head of SSD was questioned because it emerged that she did not have postgraduate masters degree. Between then and now, it is still not clear if she had managed to secure one or not.
Meanwhile, her predecessor, who was himself past the retirement age, had a doctorate degree – Rev. Dr. Amishaddai Owusu-Amoah.
Julie Essiam’s unexpected appointment to the position of CG has caused suppressed tension within the ranks of GRA workers, with workers said to be complaining on the various enclosed in-house WhatsApp and other social media platforms about what a bad appointment it was, and why government would choose Julie Essiam of all people for the top job.
She is said to be the favourite of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, and that could explain why she was government’s choice, in spite of her alleged incompetence and unstable behavior, for which she is generally dislikes among workers.
The leadership of the GRA Workers Union (GRAWU) are generally silent on the matter, as they are now weighing the mood of their members before making any official statements.
In a related development, the Board Chairman of ECG, Keli Gadzekpo, who is Ken Ofori-Atta’s close business partner, has also resigned, and been replaced with Energy Minister Herbert Krapa.
