The Savannah Regional Minister, Mr. Salifu Adam Braimah made the suggestion at the inauguration of five separate projects funded through the stool/skin lands revenue at Buipe, the capital of the Central Gonja District on Wednesday.

The projects are the construction of a fully equipped operating theatre, a well-furnished District Assembly Conference hall, residential accommodation for the Medical Director and the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) officer and a Community Centre named after the late Buipewura,Chinchanko II.

Utilization of revenue

Speaking at the durbar to inaugurate the projects, Mr. Braimah suggested further that the proposals from the assemblies for the release of the stool/skin lands revenue should contain at least 80 per cent physical projects or programmes with only 20 per cent recurrent expenditure.

He bemoaned the situation where hard earned revenue given to the assemblies to execute development projects were used on recurrent expenditure instead of physical infrastructure to help improve on the living conditions of the people.

He further urged MDAs in his region not to solely rely on the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) for development projects that usually delays but also use part of their Internally Generated Fund (IGF) to undertake development projects and programmes and label them as such.

That, he said would motivate rate payers in the communities to pay more since they have seen what IGF is doing for them.

Mandate of OASL

The Administrator of Stool Lands, Mrs. Christie Esi Bobobee on her part commended the Central Gonja District Assembly, chiefs and people of the area for their resolved to effectively ultilize stool lands revenue for development projects to improve the lives of citizens which she said was in line with the 2019 theme of her office “Effective mobilization of stool lands revenue towards Ghana Beyond Aid”.

She explained that the OASL has been mandated by Article 267(2) of the 1992 constitution and the OASL Act of 1994, Act 481 to collect all rents, dues, tributes, royalties and other revenues whether in the nature of income or capital from stool/skin lands and disburse same according to a prescribed formula for the benefit of stool/skins, traditional authorities and district assemblies.

She stated that the OASL will continue to strive to sensitise and educate lessees who have acquired stool/skin lands across the country to honour their rent obligation annually to ensure the speedy development of our communities and pleaded with traditional authorities to be transparent in land management to enable their respective areas derived the maximum benefits.

Payment of tax/rates

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Central Gonja, Mr. Mustapha Mahama, urged residents to take the payment of their taxes or rates to the assembly seriously to ensure the assembly gets enough resources to undertake development projects in the areas.

The Buipewura Jinapor II, in a welcome address pledged his commitment to collaborate with institutions such as the OASL to champion the development of the area for the common good of his people.

The next release of the stool/skin lands revenue to the Central Gonja Assembly has been earmarked for the construction of markets in some communities in the district.