By: Evans Attah Akangla| ignewss|Ho
The Ho Municipal Assembly (HMA) has made a strong agitation to government to abrogate contract between the Assembly and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in their mandate to mobilize the collection of property rate on behalf of the Assembly.
The call was due what the Assembly noticed to be a total failure on the side of the country’s revenue collectors and could cause the development of the Assembly
The Ho Municipal Assembly at its General Assembly meeting held on Wednesday August 30 2023, passed a resolution to stop the Ghana Revenue Authority from collecting its property rates due to abysmal performance.
This was captured in a statement released and signed by the Presiding Member of the Ho Municipal Assembly who doubles as the Assembly member for Ho Ahoe Duga electoral area.
According to the statement “the records available to the Assembly, the revenue fortunes of the Assembly began to dwindle since the Authority took over the collection of property rates.”
They however argued that since the Ghana Revenue Authority took over the collection of the property rate, the Assembly has seen decline in the mobilizations compared to what the assembly has done in the same time from the year before it was taken over by the GRA.
“Property rate collected by HMA as of September 2022 was Two Hundred and Seven Thousand, Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine Ghana Cedis Sixty-One Pesewas (GHC 207,359.61) as that the same period in 2023 as at July Property rate collected by GRA was One Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Three Hundred and Twelve Ghana Cedis Fifty-Four Pesewas (GHC 108,312.54)”
The statement further has it that out of the amount, the GRA is entitled to taking 30% which is equivalent to 32,493.762 leaving the Assembly with 70% of the said amount equivalent to 75,818.778.
This in their concerns “cannot be allowed to continue because the contract with GRA is supposed to boost revenue generation but not to cost the assembly huge sums of revenue which could be channelled into the development of the municipality.”
Hence the Assembly’s resolution passed on Wednesday 30th August 2023, at the assembly’s general meeting has therefore called on the government to terminate the contract with immediate effect.