The Presiding Member(PM) for Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) who doubles as Assembly member for Krofrom East electoral area,Hon.Patrick Kwame Frimpong has made a passionate appeal to all the 275 members of Parliament (MPs) to reconsider and reject the government’s proposal to collect property rates .

According to him,apart from the Central government failure to consult the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) which the current law mandates them to collect property rates,it would have negative impact especially on Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies in the country if allowed to be passed.

Hon.Patrick Kwame Frimpong made the appeal during a special meeting of KMA held at Prempeh Assembly on Monday,5th December,2022.

KMA PM who has served as Assembly member for about 16 years now and a leading member of NPP said all the 275 MPs who are also part of the MMDAs should quickly intervene to reject the new approach to property rates collection by the government.

He said the Central government didn’t show respect to the MMDAs hence failure to embark on any consultation with relevant stakeholders.
He said already, inline with the law,all MMDAs have prepared their 2023 budget and fee fixing resolutions which the property rates were factored.And now that the government is seeking parliamentary approval to collect the property rates what happens to the MMDAS approved budgets and fee fixing resolutions?
This paper has learned that the central government even though, didn’t engaged MMDAS with the current proposal before the presentation of 2023 budget statement by the Finance Minister but President’s Representatives MMDCEs and Ghana Revenue Authority (GCR) have been engaged on the new proposal.

That when the new proposal is approved and mplemented,70% of the property rates would be given to MMDAs and the rest of 30% goes to Central government.
However, Presiding Member for KMA said already the various Assemblies especially KMA is facing serious challenged for revenue for its programmes and the new proposal if allowed to stay has potency to worsen the situation.
According to him, section 144 of the Local Governance Act 2016(Act 936) reads “A District Assembly shall be the only authority to Levy rates for a District despite any customary law to the contrary’.
Further more, section 161 , subsection 3(c) of ACt 936 also stated in part that ” A rate collector shall pay the amounts collected to the District Assembly concerned” and this shows transparency in the existing law for the collection of the property rates.

It is against the backdrop,Hon Patrick Kwame Frimpong is rallying MPs to reconsider the government’s new approach to the property rates collection and reject it . Adding that most Assembly members are still not convinced about the new approach because it is against the current Act of Parliament itself!
The position of Hon Patrick Kwame Frimpong was fully supported by a number of Members who spoke on the issue and added their voices to the appeal of kMA PM for the MPs to reconsider the government’s proposal and reject it .

They also expressed surprised how the Finance Minister and the government could bypassed the local government structures with such a proposal in 2023 budget statement without necessary consultations.

Source: TNTNEWSPAPERGH.COM