By Frank Kwame Abbor
Dzolokpuita (V/R), May 19, GNA – The Ho West District Assembly has engaged Omni Strategies Limited to deploy a digital revenue mobilisation system to improve property rate collection and strengthen the district’s internally generated revenue base.
The engagement, held on May 15, brought together Assembly Members and officials of Omni Strategies, led by its Executive Director, Mr Governs Amavi, to discuss plans to identify, value and monitor properties and businesses across the district through a technology-driven platform.
Discussions centred on property valuation, data ownership, transparency, accountability and the reliability of the proposed digital system for revenue mobilisation.
Assembly Members sought clarification on the role of the Land Valuation Division (LVD), now under the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority, in validating property data for rating purposes.
Mr Constance Kwame Agbedienu, Assembly Member for Avenui Electoral Area, observed that the cost of valuation exercises often placed a burden on assemblies, as officials had to undertake field data collection prior to valuation.
“When you were speaking earlier, you said LVD will help to value the properties. It is always a heavy cost on the Assembly when they have to go to the field to collect data before valuation. If you are able to collect the data for them, it becomes easier for LVD to validate it for use,” he stated.
Responding, Mr Amavi said the company would work closely with existing Assembly revenue collectors and local personnel who possessed knowledge of the various communities within the district.
“We seek always to work with the Assembly and the team they already have on the ground. The collectors become the processors because they understand the communities and have local knowledge,” he explained.
Mr Amavi said where existing staff strength proved inadequate, the company would recruit additional personnel locally to support data collection and implementation of the system.
Addressing concerns over data security and system reliability, he assured the Assembly that the platform was supported by a cloud-based disaster recovery system that met international standards.
“If we did not have a good disaster recovery plan in place, we would not have passed audit requirements or obtained ISO certification. Our system is cloud-based, so data remains accessible anytime and anywhere,” he said.
On accountability and financial control, Mr Amavi said the Assembly would retain full authority over reports and reconciliations generated through the system.
He said the Assembly has 100 per cent control to generate reports and undertake reconciliations while auditors, finance officers and management staff would all have access based on their roles.
He explained that payments collected through the system would pass through the Ghana.gov payment gateway directly into the Assembly’s account before monthly settlements were made under agreed contractual terms.
“Every payment goes directly into the Assembly’s account. At the end of the month, settlement is done based on the agreed revenue-sharing arrangement,” he said.
Mr Amavi disclosed that the company operated under a standard government-approved 70–30 revenue-sharing arrangement, with 70 per cent of revenue retained by the Assembly and 30 per cent allocated to the contractor to cover operational costs, software maintenance, sensitisation and data collection.
He added that the digital platform would reduce expenditure on paper billing and manual revenue collection, while enabling residents in remote communities to make payments through both online and offline systems.
“It is an online and offline-based system. Anybody can dial the shortcode and make payments even without internet access,” he said.
Mr Amavi indicated that the ultimate goal of the system was to maximise internally generated funds by capturing all properties and businesses within the district onto a reliable digital database.
“We are maximising revenue. If an Assembly is operating at level two, we expect to move it to level eight and beyond over time,” he stated.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Lydia Kukua Asamoah