Gomoa District perform poorly in revenue mobilisation

Apam (C/R), Oct 31, GNA - The Gomoa District Assembly had collected 311, 095, 095 cedis as at the end of September 2005 out of an estimated revenue of 833,523,000 cedis for the year.

Ms Joyce Aidoo, District Chief Executive (DCE), who announced this at the end of the second ordinarily meeting of the fourth session of the Assembly at Apam, said collecting only 35 per cent of the estimated revenue with just three months to the end of the year was unacceptable. She appealed to the Assembly Members, traditional rulers and opinion leaders to assist the Assembly in its "Honour your tax obligation" drive.

"We need to bear in mind that achieving higher collection rate in internal generated revenue does not only help the smooth running of the administrative machinery but also enhances our chances of getting more from the District Assembly Common Fund," the DCE said.

Ms Aidoo said the Assembly had taken delivery of 25 Television sets for distribution to schools to promote the Distance Education Programme. She urged the Assembly Members to ensure that the TV sets were put to good use to serve the purpose they were provided.

The DCE stated that the Onyadze JSS block, which collapsed about three weeks ago while classes was in session would be rebuilt together with the school blocks at Gomoa Assin and Gomoa Manso Number Two under the Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP).

She said four gari-processing machines had been supplied to Gomoa Kokufu, Gyaman, Achiasi and Adzentem under the Government's Poverty Reduction Programme and appealed to those engaged in processing gari to form co-operatives to benefit from loans to expand their venture. The DCE said the Assembly was sponsoring five Community Health Nurses at the Winneba Nurses Training College to serve in the District after their training, adding that they would be bonded to serve in the area for at least three years before being eligible for transfer. Mr Joe Hackman, MP for Gomoa West, expressed concern about shoddy work being executed by contractors working in the District and appealed to both staff and Assembly Members to intensify their supervision of projects.

Mrs Emma Baaba Quaicoo, District Director of Education, said under the capitation grant, parents were not to pay any fees or levies apart from registration fees for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), which was between 41 and 43 thousand cedis. She urged Assembly Members to report head-teachers and their staff who collected money from pupils to the district Education Directorate.