AMA hauls property rate defaulters before court

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has hauled rate defaulters before court as part of measures to increase its internally generated funds.
So far, 12 people who failed to settle their property rate bills for 2012 have been prosecuted, while 43 cases are yet to be tried.

According to the Head of Finance at the AMA, Mr Ebenezer Aryee, all defaulters were issued with first notice, after which some complied and paid their bills, but the AMA had to resort to a court action to retrieve its money from recalcitrant defaulters.

“The move, an initiative by the mayor, is to help us recover revenue owed the assembly since last year,” he stated.
Seth Adom-Asomani and Associates, a legal firm, has been engaged by the assembly to help in the identification and prosecution of offenders.

Mr Aryee indicated that the AMA exceeded its revenue target for 2012, as it was able to collect GH¢20.9 million, as against the targeted GH¢20.4 million.

As part of measures to reduce fraud, the AMA, he said, had introduced a cashless revenue collection system by which rate payers would be required to settle their bills at the banks.

He explained that currently the AMA was working with the National Investment Bank (NIB) and Access Bank for the purpose.

The assembly is also using point-of-sale (POS) machines to collect revenue at markets and lorry parks.

“The moment one pays, it reflects on the management information system (MIS) at the assembly. With time, this system will also cover the collection of property rates,” he stated.

The current revenue collection was a significant improvement over that of the past years, he said.

“In 2011, the AMA was able to collect only about GH¢12 million, but in 2012 the assembly increased the revenue to GH¢20 million due to the systems introduced.

There are about 80,000 properties in the Accra metropolis, according to the AMA.

By Naa Lamiley Bentil