Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly to improve revenue generation

The Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly has mapped out strategies to improve its revenue generation in 2019.

This is because despite the tremendous efforts made by the Finance and Administration sub-committee of the assembly and management, its revenue projections for 2018 were not met.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Kofi Ofori, stated that in Accra during the Second Ordinary Meeting of the assembly.

Some of the strategies included the printing of the assembly’s own revenue bills, updating of the revenue database, engagement of some revenue collection firms, zoning the municipality into revenue blocks and procurement of a 15-seater revenue mobilisation and sanitation bus.

Besides that, Mr Ofori said public education and other engagements for the citizens to appreciate the need to collectively support the newly created assembly to be financially strong to bring the much needed development to the assembly would be employed.

Mr Ofori said out of the assembly’s projected Internally Generated Funds (IGF) of GH¢4, 569,085.00, it was able to collect GH¢1,412,625.71 representing 30.9 per cent because the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) had already printed bills, distributed and collected some money from potential taxpayers before the creation of the municipal assembly.

Since the assembly did not have a reliable database, he said, bills printed and distributed were in some cases a repetition of bills which had previously been distributed and money already collected by the AMA.

The MCE said over the past eight months, the assembly had been able to put in place the basic structures and systems to enable it to move swiftly into 2019 with renewed vigour and determination to pursue its development agenda.

Among the key intervention implemented, Mr Ofori said included the provision of an eight-room temporary offices for department/units of the assembly, furniture and cabinets for officers, procurement of desktop and laptop computers and acquisition of printers, a projector, photocopiers and other office equipment.

In addition to the logistics and equipment procured to support officers in their work, the MCE said the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) had augmented the assembly’s fleet of vehicles with one 4x4 Nissan pickup.

To support the assembly in ensuring its vision and objective of empowering the people and creating equal opportunities for all, Mr Ofori stated that the assembly would vigorously pursue the setting up of two zonal councils at Kwashieman and Odorkor-Otaten-Sakaman.