Minister Pledges More Support … demands innovation and integrity

The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Hon. Sosten Alfred Gwengwe has pledged more support towards Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).

Speaking during the tour at Msonkho House in Blantyre on 1^st March, 2022, the Minister said the country requires a big resource envelope in order to meet budgetary requirements hence MRA has a “duty of national importance” to collect revenue for development.

The Minister said he has the confidence in the Board, Management and staff of MRA to deliver the best for the country.

“I am impressed that MRA is going digital in most of its processes which in turn is widening the tax net. I am assuring MRA that we will give them support such that no interference will be tolerated as we all know that taxes collected by MRA are not for one person but for Malawi as a whole,” he said.

The Minister also called upon MRA’s members of staff to be innovative and work professionally.

“I want MRA to develop a culture of innovation. You must be a learning organization. Members of staff should be free to propose ideas on how to improve things without fear of reprisal when the innovation fails.  Please, encourage members of staff to be innovative. There is no harm in trying new ways of collecting taxes.’’ he added.

Let me also encourage staff members to work professionally. Integrity should be at the centre of your operations. Do not harass taxpayers in order to solicit something. Let’s not disenfranchise taxpayers. That will be considered sabotage. Build a positive relationship with taxpayers by giving them information required,” he urged.

In his remarks Vizenge Kumwenda, the Board Chairperson said with the Minister’s visit, as well as the support he has pledged, MRA will put an extra gear towards tax collection.

“Despite economic challenges that Malawi is facing and the world as a whole, we are hopeful that we will reach more taxpayers with the digitalisation systems of providing services and collecting taxes.

As MRA we want to reach more taxpayers for us to achieve the targets given to us. We do not want to continue on targeting same people to pay taxes and this is the reason MRA is coming up with more ways of collecting tax like Msonkho Online and Block Management System,” he said.

During the tour, the minister visited Blantyre Msonkho Online, Green Data Centre and Declaration Processing Centre (DPC).

 

BY ALICE MAMBOSASA