CHALOG pushes for revenue privatisation amid KMA scandal

The Chamber of Local Governance (CHALOG) has advocated for the privatisation of revenue collection in Metropolitan Assemblies across the country.

This call follows a police investigation in the Ashanti Region involving four staff members from the Revenue Department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA).

The officials are alleged to be part of a syndicate behind a fake ticketing scheme defrauding traders at the Kumasi Central Market.

Speaking in an interview on Channel One News on Friday, May 9, President of CHALOG, Dr. Richard Fiadomor, argued that entrusting revenue collection to the private sector would boost accountability and ensure more efficient use of funds for local development.

“Revenue collection should be privatised. When the private sector is collecting, they can’t keep it with them for 24 hours because the assembly can monitor. But if it is their staff from the government sector, the money can stay with them for more than 48 hours, leading to the unnecessary depletion of the money,” he said.

Dr. Fiadomor also accused the leadership of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly of negligence, stating that they failed to enforce proper oversight of their internal revenue systems.

He emphasised that the KMA must be held accountable for gaps in its monitoring mechanisms.

“The other way they can go about, is by involving themselves in a serious monitoring, because the assembly has a hierarchy. There is a Chief Executive, Coordinating Director, Finance Officers, and these revenue operators operate under the Finance Officers.

“For me, the reason why there is difficulty in monitoring them is because some of the Finance Officers are complicit in the matter.”