House of Chiefs calls for resources for chiefs

Kumasi, July 22, GNA - Members of the National House of Chiefs have called on the government to resource traditional authorities to enable them to play their facilitating roles effectively to ensure that their subjects paid taxes regularly.

The members made the call at a meeting of the House in Kumasi on Friday.

The call was prompted by the presentation of a research report on Tax Culture and the Role of Chiefs, by the German Development Cooperation (GTZ) to members of the House.

The report, which was presented by Dr Christoph Habawwer, GTZ Tax and Finance Advisor and Dr Raymond Atuguba, Consultant to the GTZ, indicated that, chiefs played a crucial role in revenue mobilisation in their communities.

It, however, said chiefs should not play active role in the imposition and collection of taxes.

According to the members of the House, even though the constitution clearly debars chiefs from imposing and collecting taxes, they had and continued to play a facilitating role by educating their subjects on the importance of taxes.

The chiefs said they had the responsibility as partners in development, to educate their people to pay their taxes and called on the government to provide tools and resources that could build the capacities of chiefs to enable them to play that role effectively.

Odeneho Gyapong Ababio, President of the House, said chiefs, as partners in development would continue to assist the government to find ways of mobilising enough revenue to promote the speedy development of the nation.

He thanked the GTZ for the research and asked them to present copies of the report to the House to enable the members, study and make meaningful contributions to it.