‘Establish sub-national borrowing structures’

Mr. Vincent Wordi, Budget Officer of the Shama District Assembly, has called for the establishment of sub-national borrowing structures to aid the various Metropolitan, Municipal and the District Assemblies, to be able to borrow to finance development projects at the district level.

He said with appropriate structures in place, particularly with the banks, MMDAs, would be able to develop rapidly without relying on government funds and budgets to meet the development and other social interventions of the populace.

Mr. Wordi made the call during a presentation on the topic: “The Need for Citizens to Pay Local Taxes,” for about 20 journalists at Shama.

The presentation, sponsored by the Local Government Development Project (LOGODEP), was to enable the media have a better understanding of the avenues the Assembly was adopting to improve revenue generation and some communication strategies to be used to rope in more revenue.

The Budget Officer said the consistency regarding the collection of the Assemblies was posing a serious risk to realistic and effective budgeting and planning, adding, “this is why we are engaging you the media today to help us build the spirit on tax compliance among the people”.

Mr. Elvis Darko, Communication Advisor LOGODEP, disclosed that it was a five-year project aimed at building the capacity of some selected assemblies within the Region.

The project also financed five districts during the recent street-naming exercise.