Sisaala East and Sisaala West Assemblies Hold Joint 2027 Composite Budget Hearing
The Sisaala East and Sisaala West Municipal and District Assemblies on Wednesday held a joint 2027 Composite Budget Hearing at the Sisaala East Municipal Assembly’s Conference Hall in Tumu.
The hearing brought together Assembly Members, the Municipal Coordinating Director, Heads of Departments and Units, representatives of traditional authorities, development partners, civil society organisations and the media, along with a team from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Local Government, and a regional team.
In a welcome address, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Sisaala East Hon. Adamu Yakubu said the budget hearing was more than an administrative or statutory exercise, describing it as an important opportunity to collectively determine development priorities and agree on how best to allocate public funds to improve the living conditions of the people. He said the 2027 Composite Budget Hearing sought to strengthen fiscal oversight and accountability, align the budget with national development priorities and community needs, ensure compliance with applicable budget guidelines and resource ceilings, and promote transparency and citizen participation.
The MCE said a major priority for the Assembly in 2027 would be the strengthening of its Internally Generated Funds (IGF), noting that the Assembly’s ability to provide essential services and undertake development projects depended partly on its capacity to mobilise revenue effectively. He said this required improving the collection of property rates, business operating permits, market tolls, fees, licences and other authorised revenues, accurate revenue data, effective supervision of revenue collectors, proper accounting for all collections, and measures to minimise revenue leakages.
He said revenue mobilisation was a shared responsibility among Assembly Members, traditional authorities, business operators, community leaders, revenue collectors and residents, and urged the Assembly to explore viable local economic opportunities, including those linked to the Government’s 24-Hour Economy policy, to stimulate economic activity, create employment and expand the municipality’s revenue base.
The budget analysts for both Sissala East Mr. Basi Bukari and Sissala West Mr. Mohammed made their presentations and took inputs from officials of the national and regional teams and other participants.
A representative of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr. Godfred Beveru Kanton ( Gobik), questioned why the Assembly generated very little revenue from property rates yet made huge projections for the coming years. The national and regional teams also took particular interest in the Assembly’s IGF generation and how projections were arrived at.
It emerged that the Assembly budgeted GH¢5,000 in property rate revenue for 2026, but had realised only about GH¢300 as actuals by September 2026, even though it had set targets of GH¢200,000 and GH¢240,000 for 2027 and 2028 respectively.
Responding to the concerns, the Sisaala East Budget Officer, Mr. Basi Bukari, said the Assembly had a new revenue officer, and that the high targets were based on assurances from the officer and the Assembly’s commitment to raising more revenue. He said the figures from the budget hearing were still draft, and promised to factor in inputs from the floor.
In his closing address, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sisaala West, Hon. Fuseini Gbene Abudu, thanked the team from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Local Government for attending and making inputs into the budget. He also thanked the regional team and all participants for honouring the invitation.
He said he was happy that the national and regional teams paid particular attention to IGF generation, noting that over the past years the Assembly had made impressive progress in revenue mobilisation. He assured that the Assembly would continue to mobilise more revenue through IGF to accelerate development in the area.
He thanked the Budget Committee, the Municipal Coordinating Director, the Budget Unit, Heads of Departments and Units, Assembly Members and all stakeholders for their contributions towards the preparation of the 2027 Composite Budget.
By Bashiru Nuhu |Radford FM News