CAGD urged to release deducted rates to assemblies
The members of the Mfantseman Municipal Assembly have appealed to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department to release basic rates deducted from the salaries of workers to their various assemblies.
The assembly members made the appeal when it reflected in the Municipal Chief Executive’s sessional address at the second ordinary meeting of the third session of the sixth assembly held at Saltpond last Friday that out of the 500 Ghana cedis estimated for basic rate for 2013, nothing had been collected as at August 2013.
Mr Henry Kweku Hayfron, the Municipal Chief Executive, said the 10 pesewas being paid as basic rate per adult citizen was too meager for a staff to be appointed to collect it for the assembly, hence the reliance on Controller and Accountant-General Department to deduct it from the salaries of workers.
He appealed to non-salary earners to regard the payment of basic rate as civic responsibility and pay it voluntarily to the assembly and collect their receipts anytime they visit the assembly’s offices.
Mr Hayfron said the assembly had decided to support members who would initiate development projects with materials to serve as incentive and to encourage members to initiate projects to enhance the Better Ghana Agenda.
He expressed his happiness that there had been increment in the number of passes in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations from 80.3 per cent to 86 per cent in the municipality and urged teachers to improve upon it.
He said it was gratifying to note that there had been a significant decrease in the reported cases of tuberculosis in the municipality from 68 in 2012 to 47 as at October 2013.
Mr Hayfron said the Municipal Directorate of the Ghana Health Service had vaccinated 62,971 children between the ages of nine months to 14 years against measles and Rubella (German measles) during the National Immunisation Exercise which was held from September 11 to September 20.
Mr Hayfron said for the people of the municipality to remain healthy, the assembly would continue to support immunization exercises.
Mr Alex Appiah, the Presiding Member, said collection of internal generated revenue by the assembly was not encouraging.
He said even though the situation had improved considerably since Mr Hayfron took over as the Municipal Chief Executive in 2009, but there was room for improvement.
The Presiding Member urged members to help revenue collectors to improve upon itas the assembly could not function effectively without money.
Source: GNA