Accra, May 3, GNA— The Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG), has urged the Government to reconsider its decision to centralise the collection of property rate in the country.
It said any attempt by Government to centralise the collection of property rate would retard efforts of achieving the decentralisation agenda.
Government in its 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, announced the implementation of the Unified Common Platform for Property Rate Administration effective January 1, 2022, subject to review every five years.
This, it said, was to help address the inefficiencies that characterise the collection of property rate and increase revenue mobilizations for the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), release resources for the provision of basic infrastructure as well as the needs of the localities.
Addressing members of CLOGSAG in Accra, Mr Isaac Bampoe Addo, the Executive Secretary of the Association, said the country had come far with its decentralisation efforts, adding that workers, employers and the Government should rather embark on activities that would enhance its achievement.
He said centralising the collection of property rate would have dire consequences for the decentralisation policy and burden the MMDAs.
He added that this would also come with various challenges such as cost of employing agents to collect the rate vis-à-vis existing expenditure on collection, delays in monies hitting accounts of MMDAs and job losses likely to occur to those already engaged by the Assemblies to collect the rate.
Mr Addo noted that already, centrally collected funds such as the District Assembly Common Fund and District Development Fund, had had challenges with frequency and consistency, as well as releases, thereby derailing the implementation of planned programmes, projects and policies at the various assemblies.
“The centralisation of property rate will impair the operations of the MMDAs and drastically reduce the inflow of revenue to these institutions.
“The Association is of the view that should this policy of centralisation of property rate be carried out, we will be retarding the progress of decentralisation and tantamount to only paying lip service to the policy,” Mr Addo emphasized.
The Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG also noted that the Association was concerned about the rampant awards of consultancies to individuals and firms, in the name of chasing “ghost” names on the payroll of the civil service.
These consultancies on “ghost” names in the service were a source of drains on the national purse as the purpose for which they were engaged were not attained, he said.
“Is this not the case of giving a dog a bad name and hanging it?” Mr Addo quizzed.
GNA