Minister Designate for the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, has declared that failed audits caused by unaccounted revenues will be a thing of the past as he prepares to implement reforms within the ministry.
During his ministerial vetting held by Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Tuesday, January 21, 2024, he outlined one of these reforms requiring revenue collectors, including commissioned collectors, to provide public accounts of revenues collected. This measure, he explains, aims to promote transparency and enable proper tracking of revenue against progress made in assemblies. “Revenue collectors will account openly to the district for us to see the electoral areas that are performing and those that are not performing,” he stated.
Mr. Ibrahim emphasized the need to implement measures ensuring that revenue collectors submit all collected revenues to their designated assembly offices. He explained that such measures would establish a structure that uses Internally Generated Funds (IGF) to execute visible developmental projects, demonstrating the value of the revenues collected. “When the chiefs have been brought on board, and you bring stricter and rigid measures regarding revenue collection, and the IGF is used for something concrete for people to see, I think there will be improvement.”
He further noted that without these measures, assemblies would lack tangible outcomes to justify the revenue collected. “We must start a new thing, give ourselves some time, and look at the returns of our efforts. If it is good, we move ahead; if not, then we change our steps. But we can’t be doing the same thing and expect a different result,” he proposed
By: Kobina Baidoo
