Management of Keta Municipal Assembly has initiated measures to shore up the Assembly’s poor performance in revenue mobilisation.
The Assembly in 2021 recorded a revenue shortfall, realising about GH¢5.2 million out of an estimated GH¢6.8 million representing 75.73 per cent in total revenue performance.
The total actual expenditure for the year was however about GH¢6.4 million.
Mr Emmanuel Gemegah, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Keta disclosed this in his speech at the first general assembly meeting of the third session of the eighth Assembly of the Keta Municipal Assembly.
He noted the Assembly also performed poorly in mobilising internally generated funds resulting in a negative variance of over GH¢100,000.00 when it was expected to improve on its revenue performance by 10 per cent over the previous year.
Mr Gemegah said that was “unacceptable” thus, management under his leadership had put in measures including restructuring management of the Assembly’s assets like market stores, forming revenue monitoring task force, making the zonal councils functional, preparing for collection of property rate and streamlining development permit acquisition processes.
The rest included registering an official merchant Mobile Money number in the name of the Assembly through which rate payers could fulfil their obligation and developing a revenue improvement action plan to remedy the situation.
He indicated some of these measures had already begun yielding positive results.
“It is worthy of note that management has started implementing some of these measures. Today, I can report that as a result of the formation of the revenue monitoring task force, revenue from Keta Market increased from GH¢500.00 and GH¢600.00 to GH¢900.00, GH¢1,000.00 and even GH¢1,200.00 on market days.”
“It is therefore my hope that all Hon Members will support management to monitor the Assembly’s revenue sources to ensure that whatever is due the Assembly is paid into the Assembly’s account, and it is properly receipted,” Mr Gemegah called.
The MCE also touched on other issues of importance such as education, health, security, administration and governance, works, agriculture, sand winning, persons with disability, physical planning and development control, local economy development and Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty Programme.
He appealed to Assembly members (both elected and appointed) to see themselves as development agents and not antagonise one another reminding them that “governance of this Assembly is a shared responsibility between the MCE, Technocrats and Assembly members” in order to do “what is right for the good of our people.”