Shama-Ahanta East Sub-Metropolitan Councils inaugurated

Sekondi, June 14, GNA - Mr Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Chief Executive on Wednesday urged Sub-Metropolitan Councils to explore new avenues of revenue generation to enable the assembly perform efficiently and effectively. He said the assembly could no longer depend solely on traditional revenue sources to improve on the living standards of the people. Mr Nkrumah made the call when inaugurating Takoradi Sub-Metropolitan Council at Takoradi and Sekondi, Ketan/Essikado and Effia-Kwesimintsim Sub-Metropolitan Councils at Sekondi. Mr Justice Samuel Entee, a Takoradi Circuit Judge administered the oath to the members.

Mr Nkrumah said the assembly collected levies and fees from traders during the day and ignored most traders who operated during the night. He therefore, asked the councils to formulate new strategies to identify and collect revenue from such traders because 10 per cent of the revenue realised would be retained for development. Mr Nkrumah announced that the assembly had decided to allocate about seven million cedis to each electoral area every quarter for development projects.

He asked the councils to educate the public on sanitation and efforts to reduce the volume of waste generated in the metropolis that had been expensive for the assembly to manage. Mr Nkrumah expressed concern about unauthorised structures that had affected development in the metropolis and urged the councils to enforce byelaws of the assembly and prosecute offenders. He asked the councils to be actively involved in the metropolitan street naming committee before the exercise ends in October this year.