MAYOR TASKS FINANCE COMMITTEE (PAGE 18, May 14, 2010)

Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale.
>
> THE Mayor of Tamale, Alhaji Abdulai Harruna Friday has
> tasked the Finance and Administration sub-committee of the
> assembly to come out with more innovative ways of mobilizing
> revenue for the assembly.
> “The sub-committee may also have to revisit some of the
> mechanisms used in collecting revenue in order to step-up
> our performance to attract more funds to meet our
> development targets,” he indicated.
> The mayor who was speaking at the first ordinary meeting of
> the assembly this year in Tamale bemoaned the abysmal
> performance of the revenue department of the assembly in the
> first quarter of this year.
> From January to March, the assembly generated only
> GH¢148,000 representing about 19 percent of the targeted
> revenue of GH¢814148.00 for the year.
> “From the picture, it is clear that we need to do more to
> be able to achieve our annual revenue target for which
> reason I will urge our revenue officers to take it upon
> themselves as personal challenge to themselves and as a
> group,” Alhaji Friday stated.
> He further stated that, as part of measure to ensure
> efficiency in the revenue mobilization, the assembly will be
> embarking on periodic checks on revenue collectors at
> posts.
> The mayor announced that the assembly had received an
> amount of GH¢345,000 as its fourth quarter allocation of
> the Common Fund and that, “the amount is being used to
> service existing debts and other approved development
> projects of the assembly.”
> On the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the metropolis,
> Alhaji Friday commended security personnel including the
> “Bilchinsi” peace council and taskforces at the various
> communities for their dedication and selflessness.
> He promised the assembly will provide them with the
> necessary logistics to facilitate their work.
> The mayor called for the cooperation of residents to the
> work of the taskforce and indicated that, “the maintenance
> of peace and security should be seen as the collective
> responsibility of every one of us in this metropolis