An assessment of revenue mobilisation trends in metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies: the case of La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly.

Mobilising local revenue for development is an important element of Ghana’s effort towards decentalisation. One of the tenets of decentralisation is to allow autonomy at the local level for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) to generate their own funds in addition to central government grants for the fulfillment of their mandate of overall development. This requires each MMDA to design and fashion out strategies for improving revenue generation. The La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly’s sources of Internally Generated Revenue (IGF) include rates, fees and fines as well as licenses. Since the creation of the Assembly in 2012, substantial amounts have been generated through these ‘traditional’ sources, chief of which is the rates. There are indications however, that more could be generated to meet the needs of the people if other untapped revenue items are brought on board.. It is in this vein that this study was conducted to assess the revenue trends of the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly and to make appropriate recommendations to ensure improvement in the generation of local funds for development. A case study approach was adopted for the study because the researcher had no control over the happenings at the project area and such results obtained could be applied to other local government institutions with similar characteristics. To obtain information from the study area, both primary and secondary data were used.Being a qualitative research, interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to elicit responses from key officers of the Assembly and two committees namely; the budget committee and Finance and Administration committee. Secondary data was obtained from the Finance Department for the same purpose. The study revealed that despite the strategic location of the Assembly and the presence of numerous business entities in the Municipality, La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly’s efforts at mobilising localrevenue was not encouraging as it was not able to meet a considerable number of revenue targets set within the 5 year period of the study. The study revealed that the Assembly had the potential to mobilise more revenue if improved strategies are put in place by the administrative set up. To address the challenges identified and to enhance the mobilisation of Internally Generated Funds for the Assembly, this study proposed a number of recommendations for implementation. Firstly, a comprehensive data base of immovable properties should be built and updated regularly to attract property rate collection. Similarly emerging businesses should be captured into the existing database the Assembly is currently working with. Stakeholder consultation, in the candid opinion of the researcher should be used as an avenue to solicit the views of taxpayers. In this regard, they should participate actively in meetings to craft the Assembly’s Fee Fixing Resolutions. Closely related to this, is the need to send out bills for property rate and business operation permits early enough for payment. The study further recommends use of Information CommunicationTechnology for the collection of money from businesses. Paying directly through banks and designated pay points was the way to go. Finally, the study suggests that structured courses be organised to build the capacities of both revenue collectors and accounting staff of the Assembly. This, when properly implemented will go a long way to eliminate revenue leakages occasionally associated with collection. In conclusion, the study established that most of the factors militating against the full realisation of the Assembly’s revenue mobilisation potential, stem from the management of the Assembly. With the implementation of the findings of this study, the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly can tremendously maximize revenue from its internally generated funds.

Source: KNUST