Local govt workers ready to work with minister

It expressed the readiness of the union to partner with Mr Oppong-Fosu  to fully implement the Local Government Service Structure for efficient  and enhanced service delivery at the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs).

“It is the expectation of the LGWU that more resources will be sourced for MMDAs to help them in tackling sanitation issues which have become major developmental problems facing the MMDAs,” the statement said.

It, however, stressed that efforts of the new minister and other officials at the ministry would not yield the right dividend if Ghanaians continued to exhibit bad attitudes such as the indiscriminate disposal of waste and non-adherence to MMDAs bye-laws with regard to building regulations.

The statement said revenue generation continued to be a Herculean task for the MMDAs and pointed out that property rate was a major source of revenue that was not being tapped fully.

“In this regard, the LGWU wishes to appeal to MMDAs to explore ways of motivating the staff of the revenue department, especially those who collect property rate in order to enhance the revenue base of the MMDAs,” it said.

The statement appealed to the MMDAs which had privatised the collection of property rate to give it another thought.

It advocated that a special court be established to deal with property rate defaulters, adding, “Properties are at fixed locations and the defaulters can easily be traced to face the necessary sanctions.”

“The LGWU also wishes to state that it will not condone acts of embezzlement on the part of revenue or property rate collectors at the MMDAs. While we are calling on the assemblies to motivate revenue collectors, the union strongly urge the revenue collectors  to exhibit a high sense of transparency and accountability in discharging their duties,” the statement noted.

The statement pledged the commitment of the union to partner with the relevant stakeholders in the local governance structure to come up with creative measures to step up revenue mobilisation to compliment the central government funding.

It expressed the belief that well-resourced MMDAs with dedicated staff would ensure an effective and efficient local government system to play a central role in promoting governance at the grass root level as envisaged in the decentralisation programme.