Monrovia, Liberia – August 14, 2024: The Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) has provided technical assistance (TA) to the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) to help in capacity building intended to close revenue leakages, conduct professional audits, and boost revenue growth.

In the framework of Customs-to-Customs cooperation, which Liberia Customs has from time-to-time benefited from, in December 2023, the LRA seconded its Manager for Post-Clearance Audit, Mr. L. Daniel Jaiblai, to the GRA for a period of six months, where he led reform initiatives and capacity building, setting the GRA Post-Clearance Audit Section on an irreversible path for revenue growth.

The TA culminated into the capacity building of GRA Customs Post-Clearance Auditors of GRA to help them implement best audit procedures and practices in line with the WCO guidelines and conduct of three comprehensive audits with a total audit yield of a little over GMD 4.5 million (about US$ 66,400) of which a little over Gambian Dalasi (GMD) 3.5 million has been collected.

Additionally, draft reports for three comprehensive audits were completed with a total audit yield of a little over GMD 10.5 million. The success of the TA mission has led the Agence Française de Development (AFD) to approve a grant of 1.7 million Euros for the Gambia Revenue Authority to undertake additional Technical Assistance Missions in areas such as Risk Management, Intelligence, Post-Clearance Audit, and Mobile Brigades.

In an upbeat thank-you message to LRA Commissioner General James Dorbor Jallah, GRA Commissioner General Yankuba Darbo praised Mr. Jaiblai’s role and lauded the LRA for sending a staff member who significantly identified post-clearance audit gaps and introduced strong auditing measures.

“The secondment of Mr. Jaiblai to the GRA Post-Clearance Section proved to be an invaluable resource to our team,” the Gambian chief tax collector said, adding that Jaiblai “played a pivotal role in the restructuring of the post-clearance audit section and more particularly in the drafting and validation of the Authority’s first Post-clearance Audit Regulation”.

The LRA’s Post Clearance Manager expertise and dedication, Mr. Darbo wrote, significantly improved the GRA’s “understanding of best practices and will undoubtedly contribute to increased efficiency and effectiveness” in the GRA post-clearance audit processes.

LRA CG  James Dorbor Jallah has heartedly welcomed the gratitude with delight and congratulated Manager Jaiblai for making the LRA and Liberia proud as a result of his excellence. CG Jallah said such representation and performance speak volume of the skilled and talented people in the employ of the LRA, working to collect lawful revenue in Liberia.

CG Jallah said in addition to Jaiblai, several other LRA staff have been seconded to other countries in the region to share their valuable experiences in strengthening their domestic resource mobilization efforts. Earlier this year, several LRA Customs Officers set up a modern ASYCUDA system at the Sierra Leonean Revenue Authority. 

Mr. Jaiblai’s mission was implemented in two phases, with phase one (from December 2023 – February 2024) involving capacity building, and phase two (from April 2024 to June 2024), concentrating on field audit activities.

During the capacity-building phase, nine staff members of the Post-clearance Audit Section of the Compliance and Enforcement Division of the Customs Department of the GRA were trained.

The training covered various essential topics including audit risk analysis and profiling, audit planning, data collection and data analytics, data validation, desk review, basic and advanced audit techniques, audit execution, reporting and filing, basic and advanced Excel training, audit soft skills, and hands-on continuous professional mentoring during field activities. All training was conducted in line with WCO Guidelines for Customs Post-clearance Audit.

As part of the mission, an Audit Plan for Calendar Year 2024 was prepared and signed off by the Senior Management of Customs (GRA). An audit database was created and approved, and several audit working papers and reporting templates were also created and approved. The Legal & Regulatory Framework for Post-clearance Audit Section (PCAS) was validated both internally and externally and is now awaiting final approval from the Department of Justice and the Ministry of Finance of the Gambia.

Mr. Jaiblai has meanwhile thanked the LRA for the confidence reposed in him to have represented the LRA and Liberia at large. He promised to always represent the LRA with the highest professional standards because he believes that knowledge is power but knowledge shared is power multiplied”.