Involve private agencies in revenue collection

Kumasi, June 5, GNA - Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Managing Director of Lakayana Company, a revenue generation and debt-collecting firm, has expressed concern about the inability of government to involve private agencies in revenue collection for the state in spite of the repeated appeals to involve them.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Saturday, Mr Prempeh held that until the private agencies are made part of the revenue collecting exercise for the national coffers, revenue base of the state would remain very low.

He was of the conviction that the state-owned revenue collecting agencies were inadequate to help raise enough revenue for the country and therefore need to be assisted by the private revenue collecting agencies.

Mr Prempeh said the state-owned revenue collecting agencies mainly target the formal sector which forms a small fraction of those who pay taxes while leaving out the informal sector, especially the self-employed and business communities which control a chunk of the money.

He said the advantage of the private agencies was that they would be able to identify and delve into areas, which the state-owned agencies cannot and collect the required revenue for the state.

Mr Prempeh also advised government against the tendency to refuse to address legitimate concerns that may be raised by any organisation on the grounds that should it do so, others may also make new demands. He stated that once such grievances and concerns are justified and legitimate, the government should defy all odds and address them and allow sanity to prevail. 05 June 05