Dubious Deals At Birim Central Municipal Assembly

By Sedi Bansah

Ongoing investigation by The Herald into operations at Birim Central

Municipal Assembly (BC MA), indicate that all is not well with the

collection of the assembly’s Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR).

Locrev Ghana Limited, the company temporarily engaged to collect revenue on

behalf of the assembly on 30 per cent commission basis, has been pocketing

all the money instead of paying it to the assembly.

The Herald has gathered that since assuming the responsibility for

collecting the IGR for the assembly on February 1, 2011, up to date, Locrev

has not paid a pesewa into the assembly’s coffers.

This shows that the company has opened its own account and has been paying

the assembly’s revenue into it as against the Financial Memorandum which

frowns upon anybody collecting public funds and paying into his personal

account.

As required, the GCR is to be issued with that of the company receipt.

The investigations revealed that although Madam Ophelia Koomson, the

Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), has been informed about the malpractice,

she has, so far, done nothing to rectify the situation. There are

allegations that she has an interest in Locrev.

It has also been found that the assembly’s revenue collectors on government

payroll, numbering 58, roped in by Locrev to assist in the revenue

collection, have not been given enough receipt/tickets to collect the

revenue.

None of them, it is estimated, has been able to collect even half of his/

her pay for the month.

“This means financial loss to the state”, an insider lamented adding “even

revenue areas, which are easy to collect, such as rent on market stores and

business operating permit on stores have been given to Locrev”.

Worst of all, The Herald has discovered that, the conditions required for

the engagement of Locrev were not satisfied.

Locrev apparently did not have any experience in revenue collection, and has

never worked with the Kumasi Municipal Authority (KMA) as it claimed.

The company did not go through any interview; it was handpicked. Therefore,

it did not produce any work plan, neither caliber nor strength of staff to

the assembly.

The Herald has discovered that though the formal assembly approved the

private collection of the revenue (IGR), the Presiding Member (PM), Mr.

Quatoo Quaye, as required by law, had to sign the contract.He refused to do

so because the conditions required for the engagement of Locrev had not been

met.

In addition to that, there was no security bond in the contract. Revenue

collectors, The Herald gathered, are bonded before they are given their

GCR.

When The Herald got Madam Koomson on the phone, she declined to talk,

demanding to see the face of the reporter before answering any questions.

Mr. Williams Ompong, the Municipal Finance Officer, also declined to talk to

the paper on the basis that he is not expected to talk to outsider on

financial matters related to the municipality.

Mr. Anthony Hadjor, the Internal Auditor, believed to be on his way out

because of his disagreement with the malpractices going on, also refused to

comment on the matter.

This paper has been made to understand that the best solution to the

assembly’s revenue collection problems should have been the assembly getting

the services of a consultant to write software for the assembly to be able

to track its revenue.

“But because of personal interest, the assembly has awarded all the major

revenue areas to a company which does not have any knowledge or experience

in revenue collection, to the detriment of the development of the

municipality in particular and the vision of the Better Ghana Agenda by the

NDC government in large”, remarked an insider at BC MA.

Revenues that Locrev has been collecting include property rate, business

operating permit (BOP), signage (bill boards) and rent.