Government to recalibrate property rates regime – Mahama Ayariga

The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has said he is in discussions with President John Mahama and the Minister of Finance to recalibrate the property rates regime to enable metropolitan assemblies, municipalities, and districts to be adequately financed to play their role effectively as service providers.

He says he is also in discussions with development partners to ensure that everyone is properly aligned.

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, October 5, Mr Ayariga  he said existing property rates regime is plagued by inefficiencies, inconvenience to property owners and outright corruption – where moneys paid end up in private pockets.

“Most Local Government staff deliberately ensure that the systems designed at the local level do not function for ulterior motives. We will roll out a centrally controlled mechanism for the collection of the rates which will totally take out cash collection. All payments will be electronic involving only MTN momo and electronic bank transfers. As a cardinal principle, we believe in service provision at the local level as a driving force for compliance,” he said.

He further explained that they believe when citizens see their local government authorities providing them the services they are entitled to, they, the property owners, will reciprocate by paying their due property rates. Minimal force will therefore be needed.

One area of challenge in our increasingly congested cities is urban mobility, he said.

“President John Dramani Mahama recently approved the trial of the contraflow system that has enabled easy and rapid movement of several thousands of city commuters during peak hours using the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) “Ayalolo” buses.

“He is satisfied with the initial success achieved and has further scheduled a meeting of stakeholders in his office on Thursday 7th October to review the trials and give appropriate directives on how to sustain the exercise permanently. I want to assure you that contraflow as a way of rapid mass movement of commuters within our congested cities has come to stay until we have developed other ways of easy mobility in our big cities,” he said.