Labelling IGF funded projects can whip up citizens' interest to pay tax – Sagnarigu MCE

The Sagnarigu Municipal Chief Executive, Mrs. Mariam Iddrisu, believes using part of internally generated fund to finance physical infrastructural projects in the communities is one of the effective ways to improve revenue generation at the local level.

She said it was important for the assemblies to find ways to show the people what their taxes were used for, as a way of encouraging them to pay approved taxes, and while doing that the assemblies would be adhering to the accountability principle of the local governance system.

Mrs. Iddrisu observed that many people usually refuse to honour their tax obligations to the Assemblies because they did not know what development projects were directly financed from the internally generated fund.

To this effect, the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly has started financing some projects with part of the internally generated fund, Mrs. Iddrisu revealed, indicating that such projects would be labelled ‘IGF funded projects’ upon completion for easy reference. This, she believes, will serve as evidence of effective utilization of the taxes and further motivate the citizenry to honour that civic obligation.

The MCE made the revelation at the second edition of the Democracy, Development and Dialogue (3D) Forum organized by Back To Reality on Saturday October 13, 2018 at Gariba Lodge in the Sagnarigu Municipality. Back to Reality is a social enterprise that connects people in real life to engage in meaningful dialogue to propel personal, national and global development.

Her comment was in response to a question posed by Mr Mohammed Musah, the Project Officer for the Economic Governance Pilot Project under the Empowerment for Life (E4L) Programme being implemented by Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) and Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL) with funding from Ghana Friends in Denmark and Danida.

Mr. Musah sought to know what strategies the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly had in place to boost revenue mobilization which remained the oil to propel the development wheels of the municipality.

The MCE disclosed that the Assembly engaged some young persons to take inventory of ratable items in the municipality. She hinted that the Assembly would soon call on the youth to assist in massive revenue mobilization drive to enable the Assembly implement its development plan.

The Economic Governance component of E4L Programme seeks “to increase civil society capacity to engage in and lead initiatives that promote improved local governance by ensuring higher citizen participation in monitoring local government to improve transparency, accountability and performance”.

The pilot phase is being implemented in the Saboba, Mion, Kumbungu, Nanton and Karaga Districts as well as Savelugu Municipality.

The maiden 3D Forum which was co-sponsored by GDCA created a rare platform for the citizens in the Tamale Metropolis to have a decorous face-to-face engagement with the Tamale Mayor, Mr. Musah Superior on issues affecting development in the metropolis.