The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on Tuesday led celebrations to mark the International Customs Day observed under the theme ‘Digital Customs: Progressive Engagement’.
The celebrations, held in Blantyre, were punctuated by poetry recitals, drama, speeches and presentation of awards to companies and individuals who have contributed to ICT development in customs.
Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) Commissioner General Tom Malata assured the business community that his organisation would continue to explore and adapt to new technologies in order to make tax administration more efficient.
Malata observed that MRA has already linked its customs clearing system to the system at Road Traffic Department and the Malawi Police Service.
The development, according to Malata, has resulted in the speedy clearance of motor vehicles as well as detecting vehicles that were not properly cleared.
“We have also linked with the Road Fund Administration through the use of ICT. This has enabled us to collect more revenue and easily manage toll fees.
“And we have also implemented the Temporary Importation Permit System (TIPS) and Temporary Exportation Systems (TEPS) thereby curtailing time to process vehicles on TIPS and at the same time facilitating exports in order to earn the much needed forex,” said Malata.
Malata said with support from the African Development Bank and other partners, MRA has already started the process of migrating from Asycuda ++ to Asycuda World.
The advantage of the new system, according to Malata, is that taxpayers would be able to handle their customs transactions from the comfort of their offices or homes.
He said this will greatly improve the country’s global rank on the World Bank Doing Business index and he indicated that the system has been on pilot at Chileka International Airport since November 2015, adding that the national rollout would commence next month.
In his remarks, Minister of Information Jappie Mhango said government is doing everything it can to enhance the use of technology in all its departments.
Mhango said ICT helps to make transactions faster as clients are able to do their transactions without necessarily visiting the institution.
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