Be proactive in revenue mobilization – MCE
Mr Abdul Rahman Hannan Gundandoo, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) has appealed to Assembly members to intensify revenue mobilization efforts to address the myriad of challenges facing the Assembly.
He urged those in charge of collection to be proactive, saying the progress of every assembly depended largely on how effective revenue was mobilized to deal with the countless development challenges.
He said Tamale was the gateway to the three northern regions, adding “The location and the vast lands in this area offer us an opportunity to seek investors to help in the planning and development of the metropolis”.
Mr Gundandoo made the call in Tamale on Thursday during the third ordinary sitting of the Assembly to deliberate on development issues.
He said, “We have to go the extra mile to ensure that we maximize the revenue potentials of this Assembly for the benefit of the people”.
Though the MCE commended the Assembly for taking some proactive measures, which improved Internally Generated Funds (IGF), he said there was still room for improvement and called for the introduction of innovative measures to further increase the IGF.
He said out of the Assembly’s projected revenue of GH¢1,009,284.11 for the year 2013, only GH¢708,380.48 had so far been collected, representing 70.53 per cent, as of September 30, 2013.
According to the MCE, the Assembly had embarked on a number of development projects, some of which had delayed in completion while others were ongoing. He expressed the hope that with the “Better Ghana Agenda” on course, things would get better.
He expressed concern about what he termed the “spate of lawlessness” in the metropolis, saying “Lawlessness in the metropolis is just too much, which borders on constructing unapproved temporary structures, unapproved parking, poor sanitation practices, stray animals on the streets and non-payment of Assembly levies”.
Mr. Gundandoo said the Assembly would soon embark on a programme to seize all stray animals and prosecute their owners to enforce by-laws, and warned those disregarding the by-laws of the metropolis to desist from such acts.
He said there was also the need to open up access roads in the metropolis as a means of solving the traffic situation and that measures were in place to work on the first and second ring roads in the Tamale metropolis.
Source: GNA