Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been asked to adopt innovative methods to improve on Internally Generated Funds (IGF) to facilitate rapid development in their respective localities.
The Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (LGDRD), Mr Dan Botwe, who made the call, said as MMDAs, an improved IGF would be of great interest to the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), saying the RCCs should demand of the Assemblies an improved IGF that would measure up to their status.
These were contained in a speech read on his behalf by the Oti Regional Minister, Dr Joshua Makubu, at the inauguration of the Krachi-West Municipal Assembly (KWMA) in Kete-Krachi on Tuesday.
He commended leadership of the KWMA for the steps taken by the Assembly, ahead of its inauguration, as the Assembly had valued all the properties in the area, and said it was the first Assembly to conduct such an exercise in the country which would help in property rate collection.
Mr Botwe, therefore, asked the people in the municipality to complement the government’s efforts and that of the Assembly by living up to their tax obligation, and avoid harassing revenue officers on their lawful duties.
The LGDRD Minister urged the Assemblies to work closely with traditional authorities to make the impact of the Assemblies to be felt by the people, through the mobilisation of human and material resources for development.
He said the new KWMA would experience new opportunities, from infrastructural development through the Urban Development Grant (UDG) and the establishment of government and non-governmental organisations working closely with the Assembly in the areas of education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation, and roads among others.
The Krachi-West Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Emmanuel Kajal Jalula, was grateful to the government for upgrading the district to a municipal status, and said the leadership of the Assembly was aware of the greater responsibility the new status posed.
Mr Jalula, therefore, appealed to stakeholders in the municipality to cooperate with the Assembly in its efforts to bringing the needed development to the people, saying the time had come for the Assembly to move away from the conventional means and explore more dynamic and sustainable sources of revenue generation.
The Jasikan District, which was also upgraded to Municipal status, was also inaugurated, bringing to four municipal assemblies in the Oti Region out of the nine assemblies.
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, KETEKRACHI
