Assemblies urged to design revenue systems
The assemblies have been called upon to design appropriate revenue systems that will seek to increase their revenue base for effective development of the communities.
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For instance, the assemblies are reminded that information and communications technology (ICT) presented a number of opportunities ranging from the tracking of development process, issuance of permits and easy records keeping, among others, which they could harness to improve their revenue mobilisation and hence the development of their respective jurisdictions.
The Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a Sunyani-based non-governmental media organisation in the Brong Ahafo Region, Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu Jnr, made the call at Dormaa Ahenkro, the capital of the Dormaa municipality.
Speaking at the launch of a project dubbed: ‘‘Promoting Revenue Management and its Utilisation for Development in the Dormaa Municipality,’’ he said: ‘‘It is surprising to note that most district assemblies in Ghana have made no attempts to improve their local revenue generation through the adoption of improved technology. These district assemblies, therefore, rely solely on the District Assemblies’ Common Fund for their development.’’
The 14-month project is being jointly undertaken by GLOMEF and Gift FM, a local radio station at Dormaa Ahenkro, and sponsored by STAR-Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) at the cost of $50, 000.
The project involves community sensitisation/education on revenue generation and utilisation, weekly radio discussions on revenue generation and utilisation, tax education and local accountability, as well as the development of website to host information on locally generated revenue, tax education and developmental issues
Mr Ahenu further observed that the few assemblies that had made efforts to adopt modern tool of raising revenue locally had also failed, saying that was because those assemblies had not explored the various opportunities ICT presented to revenue generation and thus relied on the manual process of generating funds which was inefficient.
The CEO explained that as part of the devolution of authority from central government to the assemblies, they were also mandated by the 1992 Constitution to generate their own incomes, known as internally generated funds (IGF), to support their developmental agenda.
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However, Mr Ahenu noted that the generation capacities of the assemblies had improved over the years, which nonetheless still did not meet their targets due to the unwillingness of the people to pay basic rates, which formed a considerable proportion of the assemblies IGF.
He again pointed out that even though the assemblies had extensive sources of revenue, several responsibilities and the lack of modern ways of tracking revenue generation affected the amount and levels of revenue mobilised.
That, he emphasised, had resulted in a situation whereby the assemblies were generally recognised as having fragile financial standing.
In an address read for him, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Dormaa, Mr Gordon Asubonteng, explained that the main sources of finance for the local government were central government grants, IGF, as well as investments or donor funds, such as the District Development Facility (DDF) and the Urban Development Grant.
He disclosed that the common fund from the central government constituted the most important sources and contributed to about 60 per cent of local government revenue, admitting that IGF in some districts was very negligible.