The Municipal Finance Officer of the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly, Madam Hickmatu Abdulai has advised ratepayers in the Municipality to honour their outstanding amount overdue to avoid prosecution when she met with some of the business executive operating in the municipality at the Assembly Hall.

Madam Hickmatu Abdulai who made the call said, the Assembly’s problems in recouping outstanding rates were very serious and would get worse if immediate action was not taken to address.

She mentioned that, once the problems that are militating against the Assembly’s revenue target are identified, there is the need to make moves to collect them. She continued that if the Assembly fails to prosecute defaulters, payment by ratepayers would get worse and this will delay the Assembly programmes and activities.  

According to Madam Hickmatu Abdulai, prior to the Task Force enforcement, the Assembly had given notice of the exercise using a combination of Latenu Radio Station and the Assembly public education Mobile Van to create awareness for days across the electoral areas in the Municipality.

Madam Abubakar Suwaiba, the leader of the Revenue Task Force urged all stakeholders in the municipality to cooperate with the Assembly Revenue Task Force for peaceful and cordial settlement of their amount overdue.

 Mr Daniel Nkrumah, the Municipal Coordinating Director mentioned that, the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly would do well to check on businesses and property owners who have not been captured into the Assembly’s revenue data as reform to widen the revenue network.

He said businesses operating in the Municipality that have failed to honour their bills would be prosecuted.

The Assembly since September this year has stepped up its operations to meet its revenue target   for 2023.

Meanwhile, some businesses operators mentioned that they, have not received their bills for the past years and that has delayed their payment. They urged the Assembly to monitor the bills distribution mechanism to ensure that bills are distributed on schedule to avoid late payment of rates.

Some of the business operators also mentioned that the Assembly revenue collectors refused to accept part payment of the bills and wondered whether they had received a requisite training on revenue mobilisation.