District assemblies should increase revenue mobilisation- Minister

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo has called on the Municipal and District Assemblies in the region to widen their revenue mobilization base to attract more funds to speed up development.
He asked the assemblies to block all revenue leakages to generate internal funds to augment the money they receive from central government to execute development projects.
Mr. Woyongo made the call, when he visited the Regional House of Chiefs in Bolgatanga, as part of his familiarization tour of the region.
He expressed dissatisfaction that the assemblies could not meet their revenue targets and tasked them to reach out to traders, property owners and corporate entities to broaden their revenue scope.
Mr. Woyongo urged the assemblies to pay attention to sanitation issues by effectively implementing bye-laws to deal with people who degrade their surroundings.
They should also embark on public education and sensitization programmes in dealing with sanitation problems.
Mr. Woyongo suggested the need for the assemblies to compel estate developers to make tree planting a component of their contracts permit.
He appealed to civil servants to remain neutral and dedicated to their duties.
He asked workers to exercise restraint over agitations for improved service conditions, saying government was working to implement the single spine salary structure to address their needs.
The regional minister stressed the need for the chiefs to come out with pragmatic strategies to help complement government efforts in addressing the Bawku conflict.
He said as chiefs, one of their cardinal functions was to help ensure that peace and tranquillity was maintained in the Region.
At the Ministry of Health the Deputy Director of Health Services, Dr James Akpablie mentioned some of problems confronting the Health Directorate, which include lack of accommodation for Doctors.
He said the Regional Hospital also lacked specialists, saying presently there was only one dentist and a gynaecologist at post.
The Regional Minister pledged to assist the hospital facilitating the training of health workers to carry out outreach programmes.
Mr. Woyongo said he had directed all district assemblies in the region to sponsor at least one student to pursue medicine.
GNA