Tema Metropolitan Assembly makes progress
The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) in the Greater Accra Region has outlined its achievement over the past two and a half years, with the most remarkable being the introduction of an integrated system that it claims has led to an increase in its internally generated funds (IGF).
The new system, according officials, allowed all key management staff to undertake real-time monitoring of important information such as monitoring of revenue officers on the field, actual collections from rate payers, number of bills that had been distributed, among others.
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The Metropolitan Chief Executive for Tema, Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, who disclosed this at a “Meet-The-Press,” event in Tema, said the introduction of the revenue management system had minimised revenue leakages and improved collection significantly.
He said the new innovation had yielded positive signs and the assembly was hoping to improve on its performance by leveraging on information technology (IT) tools to maximise revenue collection in the metropolis.
Revenue Mobilisation
Mr Anang-La said in 2017, the assembly collected GHC28,142,150.64 as IGF as compared to GHC23,887,435.88 accrued in 2016.
He said the 2018 figure declined marginally to GHC19,061,258.29, a situation which resulted from the creation of the Tema West Municipal Assembly (TWMA).
Nii Anang-La said in a bid to improve revenue generation to support development in the metropolis, the assembly had revalued all properties and deployed national service personnel and employees under the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) for the collection of business operating permit data.
Scholarships
The MCE said the TMA had offered a scholarship package worth GHC 289,443.00 to over 500 beneficiaries within the metropolis to enable them to complete their academic programmes.
Responding to a question on why a greater part of the metropolis remained in darkness in spite of the provision of streetlights by the assembly, the MCE suggested that some miscreants in the metropolis had stolen the streetlight bulbs and other wires connected to the streetlights.
The assembly, he said, had so far installed and repaired 1,000 streetlighting system at various locations and an additional 3,000 pieces had been procured to be installed at various locations.
Education
The MCE said the TMA's initiative to allow corporate and religious organisations to adopt a school in the metropolis was yielding encouraging results.
Presently, he said a number of corporate institutions and churches had bought into the initiative which was in line with the assembly’s Restoration Agenda with many of the institutions adopting and refurbishing a number of public schools.