Deceitful mobilization officers hindering progress – Budget officer

The Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (SPEFA) members have been urged to assist the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to halt the diversion of the assembly revenue by unscrupulous revenue mobilization officers.

The SPEFA members who have been constituted in 46 assemblies and trained by the Local Government Capacity Support Project of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development with support from the World Bank and the SNV; a Netherlands Development Organisation.

Mr Mustapha B Adam, the Bolgatanga Municipal Budget Officer, who made the call, alleged that there were some unscrupulous revenue mobilization officers of the assemblies who cheat by either issuing duplicate receipts or dividing one receipt between two traders.

Other challenges confronting the assemblies, he said, were the refusal of some people to pay property rates and some beer bar operators to pay their taxes, resulting in the generation of low revenues.

He said the low generation of internal revenue had negative consequences on the development of the assemblies as that determined the amount of money to be received from the District Assembly Common Fund.

Mr Adam urged the SPEFA members and all Ghanaians especially traders to complement the efforts of the assemblies by ensuring that they report any of such suspected revenue mobilization officers to them.

Mr Milton Aberinga, the Programmes Manager of the Development Research Centre (DRAC), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), said SPEFA was very grateful to the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly and the urban roads for working to improve upon some of the roads in the Municipality.

Mr Senyo Tsikata, Project Assistant of SNV-Ghana, said effective development could only thrive well from the bottom up approach and entreated SPEFA members to play their roles by participating actively in the assembly.