The Fiscal Decentralization Division at the Ministry of Finance organized a meeting on Thursday, 29th February 2024, with mayors/chairpersons and chief administrators of local councils to discuss challenges regarding collecting home source revenue in local councils.
During the meeting, Chairpersons/Mayors and Chief Administrators highlighted several challenges regarding revenue collection at the council level. These challenges ranged from staff capacity and motivation, lack of coordination and cooperation from stakeholders including chiefdom authorities and other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), issues with the legal framework, outdated cadastral systems, to political interference.
In his statement, Financial Secretary Matthew Dingie emphasized the importance of revenue collection to service delivery at the district level. He noted that improved service delivery at the local level would positively impact the country’s overall economy. The FS further assured the local council authorities of the ministry’s support and the timely disbursement of devolved grants, while also urging them to ensure they meet their respective 2024 revenue targets.
Matthew Dingie informed the attendees that the Ministry of Finance would analyze the challenges raised and develop a strategy to support the local council’s revenue generation efforts.
A presentation by the Fiscal Decentralization Division revealed that although most Local Councils had reduced their revenue targets from 2022 to 2023, many failed to reach their revenue targets for 2023. They collected a combined total of Nle67.4 million out of the NLe110.2 million target.
Director of Fiscal Decentralization Division, Adams Kargbo, mentioned that the government had undertaken several interventions to support Local Councils’ revenue drive. These interventions include preparing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between LCs and Chiefdoms on revenue sharing and management, developing Revenue Mobilization Strategies for specific district councils, and supporting the development of an upgraded Property Tax System to be implemented across all Local Councils, starting with city councils.
Additionally, the division is organizing regional revenue fora to discuss challenges and implementation arrangements for revenue collection and is working on automating own source revenue management processes such as billing, collection, and reporting.
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