Ada West Assembly Plugs Revenue Leakages

Following the drastic fall in revenue for the first half of 2018, the Ada West District Assembly has outlined workable strategies to plug financial leakages. Among the strategies are the full operationalisation of the area councils to assist the assembly in revenue collection, intensifying development and building control activities, constructing check points on the Sege-Battor highway, and introduction of a taskforce, that would, additionally, ensure that sanity is maintained in the district.

“The drastic fall in salt revenue, which is as a result of some challenges being faced by the salt industry, has awakened us from our slumber and led us to find innovative ways to boost our revenue base,” AdzoteyeLawerAkrofi, District Chief Executive (DCE), explained in his Sessional Address to the assembly members at the General Assembly meeting at Sege, the district capital.

The 2018 Budget of the assembly is GH¢616,000, and by June 30, 2018, the assembly's actual revenue stood at GH¢267,254.05, representing 43.39 percent.

Should the same strategy be adopted to rake in revenue for the assembly, Mr Akrofi feared that the variance could still be abysmal, hence, the need for a drastic 'Plan B' to plug all revenue loopholes, in order to increase its collection to take up new projects, and complete ongoing ones.

He mentioned the Enhanced Revenue Management System, a hi-tech web-based platform designed to block illicit financial flows in the revenue mobilisation structure, as another immediate measure the assembly would adopt to boost its revenue base in the last half of the year and going forward.

Beyond that, AdzoteyeLawerAkrofi named Okorwhem, Oluenanya and Kamatenya, as three potential tourist sites, which, when properly developed, would attract tourists to the district for revenue.

In this regard, he said the assembly had written to the Ada Traditional Council, requesting it to grant the assembly entry into the sites to develop them into tourist sites, with support from the Ghana Tourism Authority.

Above all these, Mr Akrofi said: “Paramount to all these initiatives is the construction of a central market and lorry station. These projects hold the keys to the district's financial security, since they guarantee a constant flow of revenue that can be used for the socio-economic development of the district.”

The determination to ensure the implementation of these initiatives, he concluded, lies in the assembly's belief that the projects have a vital role to play in securing the future prosperity of the district.