AdMa Chases Tax Evaders

The Adentan Municipal Assembly (AdMa) has revised its strategies to intensify its internal revenue generation in order to meet its development needs.

The MCE for Adentan, Benjamin Angenu, told the audience at the assembly's Annual Budget and Stakeholders' Forum at Adentan, Accra, recently that the Municipal Assembly was losing much revenue as a result of businesses and individuals refusing to pay taxes.

Mr. Ben Angenu, who assumed office as MCE barely three months ago, explained that the revised strategy was an expansion of the existing mode of tax collection to cover other businesses which in the past were not included in the tax net.

He added that the assembly was also considering a second option of awarding the revenue mobilization business as contract to institutions with very good track records on commission basis.

Mr. Angenu was hopeful that in that way the assembly would be in a better financial position to embark on the numerous development projects that had eluded the area for years now.

He cautioned people who had not regularized their business operations with the assembly to do so before the task force sets out to pounce on them.

The MCE, who spoke on a number of issues bothering the assembly, said the municipality had purchased a number of lights to be fixed along the various streets.

The Municipal Director of Finance, Dr. James Frank Awartey, said donor agencies had ceased coming to the aid of the Municipal Assembly.

He attributed this to the country's placement as a lower middle income nation which according to him, places the responsibility of taking care of certain needs on itself (country).

Dr. Awartey assured the audience that with the revised strategies the assembly was bound to make inroads in its development agenda, and appealed to those who are supposed to pay taxes to do so.

In another development, the assembly has started a Street Naming project.

Sign posts have been placed along various streets bearing names of prominent personalities and events.

The street directly opposite the Adentan lorry park leading to the offices of the Municipal Assembly bears the name, 'Klanaa Avenue,' while another one is 'Lame Dwaahe Street'.

By Solomon Ofori