MMDAs urged to digitise revenue mobilisation

Participants at a stakeholders forum in Tamale have called for the implementation of digitized revenue mobilization systems at the local levels to enhance revenue mobilization and prevent leakages.

They indicated that most of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) were having challenges in meeting their revenue targets because they were still resorting to the manual system to mobilise revenue, which was inefficient.

They also called for the provision of adequate logistics and incentives for revenue collectors to boost revenue collection.

IGF mobilization

Speaking at the forum in Tamale, the Programmes Officer of Foundation for Security and development in Africa (FOSDA), Mr Solomon Okai, noted that digital revenue mobilization systems were the surest way for MMDAs to improve on their Internal Generated Funds (IGF), hence the need for them to adopt it.

"With the national digitisation agenda speeding like a rocket, it will be crucial for the sub-national level to quickly act to keep up with the pace; and digitization and automation of IGF systems cannot be underestimated in this journey" he said.

He indicated that few MMDAs who had adopted automatic billing systems have been able to meet their targets by the middle of the fourth quarter of this year.

Effective mechanism

A leader of the MMDAs financial inspection team at the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, Mr Ibrahim Roger said revenue mobilization was the principal source of funding for development at the local level hence the need for stakeholders to adopt mechanisms to ensure that there were adequate funds to initiate development projects.

He said the non-availability of digitized revenue mobilization systems adversely impeded effective data collection and processing of information for decision-making.

He called on the government and other stakeholders to ensure the digitization of revenue mobilization in order to guarantee enough resources for development.

For her part, a Principal Economics Officer at the Ministry of Finance, Mrs Debrah Ashun, reiterated the need for MMDAs to adopt strategic revenue management systems that will enhance revenue mobilization in their areas.

Event

Organized by FOSDA, the forum brought together key stakeholders from the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern, North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions to discuss and share ideas on improving domestic revenue mobilization at the local level.

It was on the theme "Leveraging on Automation for Post COVID-19 Reset of Local Economies".