Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah,a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has paid a working visit to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) to deliberate on the Metropolis' developmental issues.
Mr Amoah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Akwapim South, accompanied by two senior officials of the Ministry, said he and his entourage would be visiting almost all the District Assemblies in the Greater Accra Region.
He explained that "we decided to come to the grounds to listen to you, and also fortify what we already know and how to address the issues you are facing".
He added that issues of sanitation, security, education, health, roads and building permits among others were keen in the discussions with TMA management.
Mr Amoah said there was the need to interrogate the factors contributing to the inability of the Assembly to meet its revenue targets saying, he was surprised that even though in 2007, Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, declared that they would soon dash their share of the common fund to other Assemblies, it was currently struggling to meet its Internally Generated Fund (IGF) target for the year.
"It means back then you were doing well in IGF but now the story has changed due to property rate issues which is affecting your revenue collection, "he said adding, the Assembly needed to interrogate whether they were being over ambitious in their targets, over spending or simply not collecting efficiently.
Touching on boundary disputes, he said a committee was looking into all the existing disputes between the Assemblies suggesting however that for the meantime, the Constitutional Instruments (CI) and Legislative Instruments (LI) that established the Assemblies indicated the various jurisdiction which could be utilized in temporarily solving such issue.
Alhaji Shehu Awudu Kadiri, Tema Metropolitan Coordinating Director, in an open remarks, stated that the TMA had a staff strength of 656 out of which 339 were on the IGF payroll noting that the Assembly accounted for the highest IGF staff among all the District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies in the country.
Alhaji Kadiri added that the Metropolis comprised of 21 electoral areas with 31 Assembly men indicating that 17 departments existed under the TMA with some having accommodation, logistical and human resource challenges.
Mr Anang-La, on his part, complained that the mandate of other governmental institutions especially the TDC Development Company and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority was affecting the full functioning of the TMA.
He stated that "we have managed the situation to avoid conflict but it's really affecting the Assembly" questioning "how, can we live in a city with three authorities, the TMA, TDC and GPHA".