Ho, Jan. 17, GNA - The Ho Municipal Assembly has failed to meet its internally generated fund target for the year 2007. It collected only GHc 291, 861.60 out of the targeted GHc 397,523.00. Mr. Mawutor Goh, Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) stated this in his sectional address of the first sitting of the second session of the Assembly in Ho on Thursday.

The MCE said internally generated funds collected by the Assembly "fell short by 22 per cent" though it was an improvement on funds collected in 2006. Mr. Goh attributed the situation to "over ambitious targeting" and urged officials working on the Assembly's budget to be realistic in future budgets and projections.

"Our budget officers must be cautious of over targeting wildly to save the Assembly from future problems", he advised. Mr. Goh said many developmental projects and government policies aimed at alleviating poverty in the Municipality were doing well and called for the collaboration of all for speedy completion of on-going projects in the Municipality.

He said work on many feeder and urban roads are progressing in the Municipality while government policies such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, National Youth Employment Programme and School Feeding Programme among others were also doing well. Captain George Nfodjo (rtd), Member of Parliament for Ho Central, who was at the meeting with Mr Francis Agbotse, Member of Parliament for Ho West expressed worry about the Assembly's financial situation and advised it to take advantage of numerous economic avenues in the Municipality to turn its fortunes around. He mentioned the arrest of stray goats and sheep, levying of stone crackers and timber workers as some economic avenues apart from traditional levies that the Assembly could exploit and urged it not to assume that the area was not economically viable. Mr Agbotse commended the MCE for his report but said that the report failed to capture interventions the MPs made to the Assembly through their share of the Common Fund.

Earlier, Mr Goh, who was dressed in the national colours urged members of the Assembly to encourage people in the Municipality to pray and support the Black Stars to win the forthcoming African Cup of Nations Tournament to be hosted by the country. 17 Jan. 08