Dormaa MCE lays down plans to develop municipality

Dormaa Ahenkro (B/A), May 12, GNA - Mr. Vincent Oppong Asamoah, the new Chief Executive for Dormaa Municipality, has expressed his desire to harness available human and material resources for the accelerated development of the area.

He said the district assembly concept, which emphasises the involvement of every citizen in decisions that affected their lives, could assume a more meaningful stance if the people acknowledged its details.

Mr. Oppong Asamoah, who spoke to the GNA in an interview, mentioned a proposal to restructure the assembly's revenue mobilization strategies to make them more responsive to the municipality's development targets.

As a first step the MCE said the assembly would update community entry techniques and communication skills of revenue collectors to make them readily accessible to all taxable persons. "I am of the view that the existing communication gap between revenue collectors and prospective tax payers is partly responsible for the assembly's abysmal internal revenue position in the region", he said.

Mr. Oppong Asamoah said for the people to wholeheartedly accept their civic responsibility to pay taxes, they must be allowed to experience the benefits that taxes could provide, particularly for an improvement in their living conditions. This way, he added, the people would agree to pay their taxes without any coercion.

The MCE said an improvement in the assembly's internal revenue generation would enhance its responsive status to attract more share of the Common Fund.

"Comprehensive bye-laws on education, security and the environment will also be drawn and carried out with the support of traditional authorities and security agencies", Mr. Oppong Asamoah said. He promised that under his administration, the assembly would not be projected as fragmented political party activists whose performance could be influenced by interest groups. The MCE assured small and medium scale entrepreneurs in the municipality of an open door policy and that his administration would be prepared to discuss and find solutions to their challenges. 12 May 09