Presiding member calls for stiffer punishment for corrupt revenue collectors

The Presiding Member of the Birim Central Municipal Assembly Mr Andrews Abrokwah, is calling on authorities to offer stiffer punishment to Revenue Collectors who refuse to submit their monies to the appropriate quarters.

According to him, the idea of just allowing such Revenue Collectors to refund such monies without sanctions is not the best, insisting that it has the potential to entice others to dip their hands into public funds, invest it and then pay later when they are caught.

Mr Abrokwah expressed these sentiments when he met Revenue Collectors of the Birim Central Municipal Assembly at a day’s sensitization workshop on strategies for effective monitoring and evaluation of the Internally Generated Fund (IGF) of the Assembly in Akyem Oda.

He said the Assembly is putting itself together to take bold steps to sanction all Revenue Collectors who has one way or the other refused to pay the appropriate collections to the Assembly to ensure that such unscrupulous persons do not go unpunished.

The Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been empowered by law thus Local Government Act 936 of 2016 to mobilize and manage revenues in funding their operations.

Unfortunately, many of these Assemblies across the country have been struggling to identify sustainable sources of revenue and how to collect them in order to actualize this legal directive, but the Birim Central Assembly want to stand out in this revenue mobilization challenge.

The Birim Central Municipal Assembly last year failed to achieve its revenue target. This the Presiding Members said is unfortunate.

Mr Abrokwah however asked the Finance Department of the Assembly as a matter of urgency to adopt prudent and drastic measures to increase the IGF of the Assembly. He said the releases from central government had become unreliable and it was therefore imperative for them to come up with strategic measures that would help generate enough revenue for the operations of the Municipality. On his part, the Municipal Finance Officer of the Assembly, Mr Isaac Sintim Aboagye charged the Revenue Collectors to do their utmost best to increase their revenue collection to meet the financial commitment of the Assembly. He indicated that available report of the Assembly revealed that there were some financial malfeasance of Revenue Collectors in accounting for monies they collect.

Mr Sintim Aboagye noted that the Municipality has a lot of revenue potentials and with commitment and dedication of Revenue Collectors it should be able to mobilize enough monies to effectively perform its mandate.

He announced that very soon all payroll collectors who refused to meet their revenue targets would be denied their monthly pay-roll validation and its continuation would finally win them completely from the pay-roll system.

Mr Sintim Aboagye therefore advised the collectors to devote their time and be committed in revenues they collect for the Assembly adding that “they are the bedrock of the Assembly and hence any unscrupulous practices would weaken the operations of the Assembly.