The Member of Parliament for Salaga North, Mr Alhassan Mumuni, has called for the reactivation of Area Councils to boost internally generated revenue of District Assemblies.
Mr Mumuni observed that with increased revenue mobilization through the help of the Area Councils, Assemblies could implement many development projects without waiting for the release of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).
Mr Mumuni was speaking at the second ordinary meeting of the Kpariba Area Council last Thursday at Kpariba, where he indicated that financial aid from donors had reduced, and due to the economic challenges the government was experiencing, ‘the common fund is no more common.’
He said the recent initiative by the Kpariba Area Council to set up a task force to reactivate the collection of levies from articulated vehicles which convey goods from the area, had generated about GH₵2,000 within two months, and indicated that there were more sources to generate revenue internally.
“There are some little challenges, such as fixing school doors, painting and building community latrines, which part of these internally generated funds could be used to address without waiting for funds from the government,” he said.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Salaga,Mr Mohammed Amin Lukman, said to monitor and improve upon revenue collection, the Assembly was working hard to complete the street naming project to collate data on houses and businesses.
He commended the Kpariba Area Council for its initiative, and appealed to other area councils to emulate them.
The DCE said the Salaga Assembly had started the implementation of a three-year development plan, which would help improve access to social services and provide more infrastructure.
Agro-processing.
Mr Lukman said plans were far advanced to rehabilitate existing cassava and rice processing plants, and also to build additional groundnut processing plants, to create more jobs for the youth.
