Butchers who have relocated to the ultra-modern facility at Yorogo; a suburb of Bolgatanga have refused to pay revised fees collected by the Assembly.
The Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly noted that in a bid to increase revenues generated to enhance development, it has improved its revenue collection strategies. It has also revised some of the fees upwards.
This means that members of the Bolgatanga Butchers Association are expected to pay Ghc10 to the Assembly per cow that is slaughtered at the Yorogo abattoir. This has however met fierce resistance as the butchers insist that they will pay nothing more than the Ghc2 that has been the fee for the last few years.
The situation, according to the Municipal Assembly, is worrying considering the huge amounts of money the Assembly has invested into the facility to ensure that it runs.
This came to light when the Bolgatanga Municipal Budget Officer Dauda Issahaku Saari, the Municipal Finance Officer, Alhaji Sheriff Adams and the MCE, Rex Asanga spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show about the Assembly’s improved strategies to generate revenues internally.
“We have a mechanised borehole but when the water goes off, and the borehole does not work, we still have to supply water so that they [the butchers] can work. They are not even ready to pay for that too,” he said.
Mr Asanga said the butchers have been particularly reluctant in negotiating with the Assembly. He said the butchers’ posture suggests that “we [the Assembly] brought them here [Yorogo abattoir] so we have to take the bills. After all, we [the butchers] did not want to come but you brought us.”
“We are just taking Ghc2 for a whole cow. At the end of the day, we a piling bills and would have to move money from other places to go and pay for people who are doing legitimate profitable businesses,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly over the last 4 years has raised a total of Ghc4,229,617.14 in Internally Generated Revenue (IGF). The total revenues were raised under 7 categories.
The categories include; income on property, lands and royalties, rent income and licences. The rest are; fees, fines and penalties, miscellaneous and unident revenue.
In 2018, the assembly raised Ghc923,860.75. In 2019, the revenue collected increased to Ghc1,118,110.30. There was a dip in revenues collected in 2020 as the Assembly managed to collect only Ghc929,693.34. The dip was attributed to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021 as restrictions eased and businesses slowly reopened, the Assembly managed to raise a total IGF of Ghc1,257,952.75.
Out of the total amount raised, the Assembly spend Ghc4,088,396.61 on compensation, goods and services as well as assets.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
