Asamoah-Boateng expresses unhappiness with Elubo revenue collectors

Elubo (W/R) Aug. 2, GNA - The Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Mr. Stephen Asamoah-Boateng has directed that revenue collectors at the Elubo border post be either dismissed or transferred. He said their attitude to work and general apathy towards the collection of revenue were enough failures to warrant the action.

Mr. Asamoah -Boateng said this when he paid a surprise visit to the border on Monday as part of his tour of the Western Region. The minister and his entourage, including Mr. Martin Ackah, District Chief Executive for Jomoro, noted when they visited eight commercial shops at the Ghana side of the border, that none of them had paid any levies. The quarterly stamp tax of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on all the eight shops had expired on March 31 this year.

One Kofi Gentle, who deals in bicycles, said for the past two years, he had not paid any levy because no revenue collector had come around to collect it. However, a few others, including a watch shop, owned by Issamanu Issa, produced receipts, indicating they had paid their levy for this year.

Mr. Asamoah-Boateng said the apathetic attitude of the revenue collectors would not help the various assemblies and the government to mobilize enough funds internally. He advised the DCE to liase with other tax collection agencies, and security agencies at the border in order to appropriate ways of collecting levies and rates from traders, residents and others. Mr. Asamoah-Boateng said the assembly could greatly improve if revenue collectors were active and responsible in the discharge of their duties. Mr. Ackah appealed to the Ministry to assist them to construct a market for the Elubo border, which had been estimated at 25 million cedis.