Mr. Eric Opoku, the Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, has appealed to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to educate the people to discharge their tax obligations to
accelerate Local Economic Development (LED).
He said the country's inability to mobilize enough local resources to support development had been a major factor militating against LED.
The MMDAs must therefore place premium on their internally generated funds (IGFs) through creative and innovative methods beside efficient tax collection systems to ensure a rapid LED, he saidd.
Mr. Opoku was speaking at a one-day workshop on LED organized by the National Association of Local Authority of Ghana (NALAG) at Fiapre for 90
participants.
They included assembly members, district planning officers and budget officers from the Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.
The workshop, sponsored by the District Assemblies Common Fund, aimed at providing relevant information, skills and experiences for the MMDAs to promote the LED concept, share ideas and to encourage them to advance the initiative.
Mr Opoku said LED had been accepted as a process by which partnerships between local governments, community-based groups and private sector were established to manage existing resources to create jobs and stimulate the
economy of a well-defined territory.
Mr. Opoku said LED would not be successful without flexibility to respond to changing circumstances at the national and local levels while applying the policy of decentralization as the bedrock of all their endeavours.
He said for the concept to bring returns, local authorities must design and develop their infrastructure like houses, transport, water, roads and electricity because these are building blocks for any local economic take-off.
Mr. Kwame Agyenim Boateng, presiding member of the Sunyani West District Assembly and Brong-Ahafo Regional representative of NALAG,
expressed the determination of NALAG to ensure that its members created an environment that would promote new opportunities in the districts where there might be limited opportunities for economic growth.
He said NALAG was ready to join hands with other stakeholders in its drive to push MMDAs to take LED issues seriously.