The Wa Municipal Assembly (WMA) has for the first time in several years exceeded its revenue target by 16.7 per cent last year when it realized 196,338.23 Ghana cedis as against 168,206.00 Ghana cedis set for the year.
The Assembly attributed its success largely to the good cooperation and support it enjoyed from the public, especially in matters relating to the identification and disclosure of revenue leakage points, and their assistance in sealing all loopholes.
Mr. Duogu Yakubu, the Municipal Chief Executive, who was addressing the first ordinary meeting of the third session of the Assembly said buoyed by this positive development in revenue mobilization, the Assembly had set a target of 245,435.00 Ghana cedis for collection this year.
He noted with concern that some people within the Municipality had resorted to private drilling and mechanization of boreholes without following the prescribed procedures, and called on stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to support the Assembly to stop that practice.
He pointed out that "as we appreciate that water is an indispensable commodity in human life, we will not allow impunity to take precedence over laid down rules and regulations, since it has the tendency to adversely affect the health of our people once there is no certainty about the quality and wholesomeness of water".
The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr. Mahmud Khalid, commending the WMA for its remarkable improvement in revenue generation last year, urged the other Assemblies in the region to adopt aggressive revenue generating strategies in order to curtail their over reliance on the Common Fund.
He also said the WMA being the regional capital had a special responsibility of being the mirror to the rest of the region and as a result it had to strengthen its supervisory capacity for effective and efficient delivery of services.
Mr. Khalid drew the attention of the Assembly to the haphazard location of structures like kiosks, containers and building on the natural water courses and urged its Planning Unit to address that problem.
Mr. Iddrisu Adams, the out-going Presiding Member said the Assembly has worked assiduously to reduce its debt from 1.3 million Ghana cedis to six 600,000 Ghana cedis last year.