Accra Metropolitan's hard handedness on tax collection
Accra (Greater Accra)
27 March 2003-Joe Baidoo-Ansah, NPP-Effia Kwesimintim, on Wednesday said the
consultants who worked on the Ghana News Agency (GNA) restructuring had 'displayed
a high level of ignorance' on the role of a wire service in the development
process of a country like Ghana.
He said the
consultants, Wayne Dunn and Associates, Universalia Management Group and Benda
Consultancy who recommended that GNA be turned into a communication centre,
among others, "did a very bad job".
The Member was
contributing to a debate for the approval of the Budgetary estimates of the
Ministry of Information and Presidential Affairs, which stood at 87.3 billion cedis.
Baidoo Ansah, later in the lobby of the House questioned the criteria used by
the National Institutional Renewal Programme (NIRP) to engage the consultants.
He said the GNA may
have its own problems but the last advice it needed was the communication
centre concept. The member called for an increment in the low salaries paid to
the GNA workers to motivate them.
Kofi Attor, NDC-Ho
Central, said the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and National Film and
Television Institute (NAFTI) should be helped to relocate or at least have
modern buildings to house studios. He said the relevant clauses in the Ghana
Education Trust Fund (GETFund) should be amended to afford the two training
institutions access to it. Norbet Awulley, Builsa South, asked the Ministry of
Finance to release on time allocations to the Ministry.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
27 March 2003- The Ministry of Energy is introducing energy efficiency
standards and labels for electrical appliances as part of the national campaign
on energy efficiency launched last year.
A Legislative
Instrument would soon be introduced in Parliament to give backing to the
enforcement of the efficiency standards programme. The Minister of Energy,
Albert Kan - Dapaah said this on Wednesday when Kwakye Addo, NDC- Afram Plains
South asked what measures the ministry was taking to address the 30 per cent
wastage of power consumed in the country.
Kan-Dapaah said with
the standards and labels, consumers would have an idea of how much an
electrical appliance would consume before they purchase it, have already been
developed for room air conditioners and this would be extended to lamps and
refrigerators.
This measure would
also keep inferior and inefficient appliances out of the Ghanaian market and
help reduce waste. He said there was however a difference between wastage of
power and losses that occur in the power networks of Electricity Company (ECG),
Volta River Authority (VRA) and Northern Electrification Department (NED).
Wastage of power
refers to the use of power for a purpose for which less energy would have
otherwise been used given the best technology and practice. Power is wasted
when the consumer uses the power for which he/she has been billed in a manner
that is considered inefficient either through the type of appliance or trough
own behavioural practices.
Kan-Dapaah said a
mobile energy management service would be available from June this year to
assist industrial and commercial energy users identify opportunities for energy
waste reduction. He said to demonstrate the cost of effectiveness of energy
efficiency to both the economy and the environment, the Ministry and the
Ministry of Environment and Science have, in collaboration with the Netherlands
Government initiated a Building Energy Efficiency Project.
This is to
demonstrate conclusively that end-use energy efficiency measures are
financially, economically and environmentally attractive and to build valuable
Ghanaian implementation capacity for Climate Change Mitigation Project.
Kan-Dapaah said the Ministry
of Energy is currently promoting the compact fluorescent lamp that is more
efficient and uses less electricity. The ECG and VRA have recently brought in
40,000 CFLs for distribution to the public and arrangements are underway to
secure funding to procure additional pieces for the market.
Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo,
NDC-Fanteakwa asked the Minister whether he would set up a District Office of
Electricity Company of Ghana at Begoro to enable the company operate
efficiently in the district in view of the growing number of communities hooked
to the national grid.
Kan-Dapaah said
Begoro is presently supplied and managed from ECG's Operational District at
Tafo-Akim with a customer population of 1413 with a load of about 800
Kilovolts. ECG has a revenue collection centre at Begoro and intends to upgrade
the revenue collection centre to a customer service to reflect the increased
customer service necessitated by the increase in population.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
27 March 2003- The Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development (MLGRD)
is to undertake aerial photography and digital of 2000 square kilometers of
built-up areas in 25 project towns as a step to upgrading data collection
towards improved planning, property valuation and overall revenue generation.
The Ministry would
also under the Urban Five Project complete work on the rehabilitation of basic
municipal services, including markets, lorry parks, public toilets, town roads
and slaughterhouses in the remaining 16 of the 25 beneficiary towns during the
year.
The Minister, Kwadwo
Baah-Wiredu said this when he moved a Motion in Parliament for the approval of
Two Hundred and Seventy-Three billion, Seven Hundred and Thirty million cedis
(273,730,000,000 cedis) for the services of the Ministry for this fiscal year.
Baah-Wiredu said
during the year, District Assemblies would continue to be resourced towards
effective management of their environmental sanitation and increase access to
sanitation services.
He said the Ministry
under the Urban Three Project would take delivery of waste management equipment
procured for 11 District Assemblies while additional works would be undertaken
to enhance the impact of investments already made.
The major
construction works undertaken last year to reduce flooding and improve
environmental sanitation would be completed this year. These are the
reconstruction of the Odaw drain in Accra, construction of sanitary landfills
in Tamale, Kumasi and Sekondi.
Baah-Wiredu said
departmental training programmes are to be introduced to enhance the
performance of the Departments of Parks and Gardens and Community Development and
the Births and Deaths Registry.
Gabriel Y. Amoah,
Chairman of the Committee said it was necessary that the decentralization
policy is given the needed human and financial support to ensure total success.
The Committee recommended that the Ministry should draw up policy guidelines to
ensure proper monitoring of the sitting of markets and lorry parks, that the
Ministry of Finance assist the Births and Deaths Registry to raise the
necessary finances to support the National Identification Programme. It also
recommended that registration of children under one year, should be free and
that children above two years must be raised in order to generate more revenue
and encourage parents to register their children at birth.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
27 March 2003-The Ministry of Finance and its Agencies have been exhorted to
ensure financial prudence and to exercise strict expenditure controls in order
to achieve optimal performance.
The Finance Committee
said after examining the 2003 Budget estimates of the Ministry and its
Agencies, it appreciates the financial constraints that are likely to be faced
by the Revenue Agencies due to the slim national budget.
This followed a
Motion moved by the Minister of Finance, Yaw Osafo- Maafo for the approval of
Two hundred and thirty-one 231 billion, two hundred and forty-seven million
cedis for the Ministry, its departments and Agencies to enable the Ministry
meet its obligations for the 2003 financial year.
Eugene Atta Agyepong,
Chairman of the Committee said the Ministry of Finance exists to ensure
macro-economic stability for the promotion of sustainable growth and
development through the fulfilment of their aims and objectives.
He said the technical
team informed the Committee that the revenue agencies - Customs, Excise and
Preventive Service, VAT and Internal Revenue Services has been hived of the
Ministry's budget this year but additional new units such as Non-tax revenue
unit, public expenditure monitoring unit and Budget Development Unit have been
created and put on the Ministry's budget.
The Minister of
Finance also moved a Motion for the approval of three hundred and forty-three
billion, nine hundred and twenty-three million cedis for the Office of the
Government Machinery for the 2003 fiscal year.
The Office of
Government Machinery embraces the Office of the President, the Regional Co-ordinating
Councils, including Regional Budget offices and organisations whose operations
fall outside traditional areas of sectoral responsibilities for which the
Office of the President has direct
responsibility.
The Committee
observed that the estimates provided for investments, service and
administration are not adequate for the smooth running of the Government
machinery. It recommended that officials under Government Budget should be
responsible for the budget line in order to be held accountable for the use of
that allocation.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
27 March 2003-Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister, on
Wednesday said the
Accra Metropolitan Assembly's (AMA) uncompromising stand on tax payment was
sending the right signals to the investment world.
"The obligation
to pay tax should be as strong as the obligation to make profit." The
Senior Minister was contributing to a debate for the approval of 6 billion
cedis, being the budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Private Sector
Development.
In an apparent
pointer to AMA's forceful closure of the Standard Chartered and Barclays Banks
for non-payment of tax arrears, he said there must have been a missing link in
communication, but it was a scandal for such big banks to ignore the payment
low cedi-index taxes.
He described AMA's
action as, "a public demonstration of the fact that the big guys who do
not pay tax cannot get away with it". He defended the National
Reconstruction Levy saying that the preposition that the levy was killing
industries was unacceptable.
He said the Banks
were virtually printing money as they made massive profits so they had to
contribute to the development of the environment in which they operate.
"The Banks themselves recognizes the legitimacy of the levy and have
agreed that we take part of their profit for development." The house later
approved 21.8 billion cedis for the Ministry of Economic Planning and Regional
Co-operation.
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