The administrative costs in question pertain, in the first instance, to our annual contribution to the social welfare authority in Accra, Ghana, which amounts to some six hundred cedis. A further sum is owed to our accountant in Ghana, which may modestly be discharged through a gesture of appreciation amounting to some hundreds of cedis.
We must also account for our dealings with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), an institution whose reliability we have, regrettably, found wanting: our attempts to establish contact have gone unanswered, notwithstanding repeated assurances of a response. A comparable experience has been had with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) — the body to which one might ordinarily appeal in cases of administrative misconduct by other Ghanaian authorities — which has proven similarly unresponsive, offering promises of cooperation that have yet to materialise.
It is our intention, once the necessary office premises in Kasoa have been completed, to formally declare our activities to the GRA through our certified accountant. We note, incidentally, that the Registrar General’s Department in Accra — where our Ghanaian filial of the Life Can Ghana Initiative is separately registered — has indicated that no fee ought to be required for such a declaration. And yet we are given to understand, through various accounts, that officers of the GRA are inclined to solicit informal payment from those with whom they deal. By contrast, our filial registered in Sweden has proven considerably more prompt, transparent, and consistent in its communications.
It is a source of some disappointment to observe that, while Ghana’s institutional architecture is, on paper, admirably comprehensive, its practical functioning falls markedly short of this promise. It appears that the discharge of official duty is too often contingent upon an unofficial gratuity over and above one’s salary — a state of affairs that is, we suspect, an open secret to all who have occasion to deal with these institutions.