Zambian Voices accuses ZRA of inefficiency

The Zambian Voice says its investigations have revealed that the Zambia Revenue Authority has been extremely inefficient in collecting revenue from imports and exports because of the newly installed system called ASYCUDA WORLD.

Reacting to the indication by ZRA Commissioner General Berlin Msiska that revenue collection in 2015 could be even lower than the K2 billion adjusted downwards by Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda, Zambian Voice Executive Director Chilufya Tayali says while the ASYCUDA WORLD system in its perfect working mode is a marvel to work with, the country’s poor internet connectivity upon which it relies means the system is 80% unreliable and it is usually off which makes the process of clearing goods on the entry/exit points extremely slow.

Mr Tayali says to make matters worse, the Loadshedding being experienced in the country has also caused more inefficiency because very little work is done when power is not available.

He adds that while the system was also meant to curb corruption through the creation of two Central Processing Centres in Lusaka and Ndola where all officers who used to do import valuations are operating from,verified information shows that these officers are still engaging in corruption using agents who communicate using phone applications like Whatsapp.

Mr Tayali further states that the ASYCUDA WORLD system has brought in tedious bureaucracy making senior managers susceptible to corruption by desperate Tax-payers who want to clear their goods.

He states that looking at the reduced time of production using the ASYCUDA WORLD, it is estimated that ZRA is losing about two-third (2/3) of what it could collect if the system is working well.

He says this inefficiency has a repo effect in other areas such as delivery time of both the importers and exporters.

Mr Tayali has since appealed to ZRA to consider reverting to their old system ASYCUDA plus-plus which does not rely on the internet.

He says the ASYCUDA WORLD system has brought more harm than good to the revenue collection which the country direly needs amidst the economic challenges.