Shama Assembly to register canoes for taxes

The Shama District Assembly (SDA) is to register all canoes in the district to facilitate easy identification and collection of taxes from canoe owners.

The District Chief Executive (DEC) for Shama, Mr. Enoch Kojo Appiah made this known at the Eighth Ordinary Meeting of the Second Session of the Assembly in Shama on Tuesday.

He said the canoes that would be registered with the Assembly would be issued with coupons to enable them to purchase pre-mix fuel but those that would deliberately refuse to register would not be served.

He said the Assembly would ignore critics of its move and go ahead with the passage of the new Assembly bye-laws in order to bring sanity in its revenue generation.

The DCE noted that the Assembly encounters problems in its revenue mobilization, therefore, it had strategized to collect revenue in the area of fees, levies, taxes and property rates from property owners, businesses and individuals to generate revenue for socio-economic development.

Mr. Appiah stated that the Assembly’s poor performance in revenue generation was retarding the development process and called on all stakeholders in the district to put their shoulders behind the wheel to accelerate development.

He said the Assembly mobilized GH¢231,783.86 as its Internally Generated Fund (IGF) last year and expended GH¢230, 383.97.

It also received GH¢932, 534.93 as its share of the District Assembly Common Fund; GH¢157,097.49 as Member of Parliament’s (MP’s) Common Fund and GH¢663,357.14 as the District Development Fund.

The Assembly adopted new bye-laws, which would be forwarded to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for assessment and enactment.

The DCE noted that the enactment of the bye-laws would facilitate effective administration and mobilization of resources in the area for accelerated development.

Source: GNA