Afigya-Kwabre to improve revenue mobilisation

The Afigya-Kwabre District Assembly has announced plans to build a number of major markets as part of aggressive revenue mobilisation efforts to end its over-dependence on the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) for development.

Mr Kwaku Oppong-Kyekyeku Kaakyire, District Chief Executive (DCE), said this would be done through public/private partnership arrangement. He said it has become increasingly necessary to look internally to generate money to support the implementation of projects lined up to improve the lives of the people, he added.

Construction works had started on one of such markets at the sprawling Afrancho community. Others are to be sited at Atimatim, Boamang and Kyekyewere. This comes amid the slow pace of progress on a number of projects started by the assembly due to delays in the release of the DACF.

Mr Oppong-Kyekyeku broke the news during a visit to the district by Ghana News Agency (GNA), led by the General Manager, Dr Bernard Otabil, under STAR-Ghana’s sponsored media auditing and tracking of development projects, to shine a spotlight on how government’s resources are being used to change the living conditions of the population.

STAR-Ghana is a multi-donor pooled organisation. Asante-Akim South and Atwima-Mponua are the other two districts in Ashanti Region, selected for the media activity designed to aid transparency and accountability in local governance.

The DCE expressed the assembly’s determination reverse revenue loss to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, as a result of the higher percentage of the district’s 140,000 population that makes daily round trip to Kumasi to carry out economic activities.

Dr Otabil said the GNA/STAR-Ghana project is being piloted in Ashanti and the Eastern Regions. He underlined the resolve of the Agency to continue to focus efforts on helping to enhance good governance to improve the quality of life of the population.