Minister tells Assemblies to expand tax collection

Bujan, (U/W), May 27, GNA - Mr. Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister on Friday called on District Assemblies in the region to expand their scopes of tax collections to be able to initiate development projects on their own.

The expansion, he said, would not only reduce their over dependence on donor organisations but would also give them free hands to decide on when and where to site development projects.

Mr Dery said this at Bujan in the Sissala East District when he inaugurated a four bedroom teachers quarters as a symbolic inauguration for all the European Uncon development projects. He said most donor projects come with conditions, which must be strictly adhered to sometimes against the will of recipients, but with your own projects you can decide with the community to make their choice of project and when they need it.

The Regional Minister warned against the withdrawal of school girls for marriage at the expense of their education and urged them to take care of their needs to enable them to grow up to be independent citizens.

Dr. Kwaku Osafo, Programme Manager of EU Micro projects said although all the districts of the Upper West were automatic members of the next phase of EU micro projects, they would have to show a high level of commitment before funds would be released to them. He explained that the Sissala District did not get adequate projects in the last phase because they delayed the processing stages and urged them to speed up this time round to acquire more funds for projects.

Dr Osafo said women would be incorporated into the next phase of the programme because they were identified as main providers in most families in the country.

Mr Salifu Waah, Sissala District Chief Executive appealed to the EU to release funds on time to enable them to complete projects on schedule.

He explained that because the communities would have to contribute through communal labour it was important to release the funds on schedule so that days set aside for the projects could be used before their farming seasons.

Mr Erik Kristensen, EU representative in Ghana announced that a total of 25,000 dollars would be released to Ghana for the next phase of EU projects. May 27 05