New Juaben Assembly kicks against high PTA levies

Koforidua, Nov. 29, GNA - The New Juaben Municipality Chief Executive, Nana Kwasi Adjei Boateng, had expressed concern about reports that Parent/Teacher Associations (PTA) and School Management Committee (SMC) levies imposed on pupils in the municipality ranked highest in the country.

He expressed regretted that the situation was not allowing parents to feel the positive impact of the capitation grant being implemented by the government.

Nana Adjei Boateng who was addressing the Third Session of the Municipal Assembly at Koforidua on Tuesday therefore charged Assembly members to set up a task force to deal with the issue with the various PTAs with the view to reviewing the levies.

According to him, the municipality had received 14,000 exercise books and about 350 million cedis representing 47.7 per cent of the total amount of the grant for the year to implement the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) at the basic education level. Nana Kwasi Adjei Boateng said the Assembly had also received 25 television sets for schools under the Presidential Initiative on Distance Education.

On revenue generation, he said the Assembly had as at November 25, generated 3.1 billion cedis out of the estimated 4.84 billion cedis, representing 64.8 per cent.

It had also received 2.3 billion cedis out of the estimated 5.372 billion cedis as Common Fund for the year.

Nana Kwasi Adjei Boateng reminded them that since the delivery of the assembly's statutory functions hinged on revenue, they should support in efforts to scale up revenue collection in their areas. On the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the MCE announced that 20,891 people had registered and 8,000 subscribers had benefited under the scheme since October, saying: 717 million cedis had been raised as premium while the National Health Insurance Council provided 314.4 million cedis to the municipality.