....on intended 800 per cent tax hike

President J.A. Kufuor has warned the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) not to dismantle the support base of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by being exploitative in fee fixing. “The people should feel their government is in power,” he reportedly said at a meeting with party executives and a section of the assembly members of the KMA on 23 March, this year at The Residency in Kumasi.

The President’s concern follows hints of KMA’s intention to increase rates, fines and taxes by more than 800 per cent. The meeting was to assess the situation at KMA following agitation by a group of 30 assembly members who had criticised the modus operandi of the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Maxwell Jumah, accused of arbitrary decisions regardless of the provisions of Legislative Instrument 1614.

Sources close to the meeting told the Chronicle that the President was unhappy about the way members of the assembly conducted themselves in arriving at decisions without reference to the L.I. He reportedly reminded the assembly members of their role in meeting the developmental aspirations of the people, based on the L.I.

President Kufuor is said to have rebuked the assembly for not using its powers as enshrined in the L.I. properly. He pointed out that political power at the metro level resided in the assembly and that the Chief Executive was only an implementing agent of decisions of the assembly.

He noted that flaws in administration should not be placed at the doorstep of the MCE alone. “It is a collective responsibility for an assembly to fail in its obligations to the people.” The President, therefore, charged the assembly members to put their acts together, plan and bring to the fore proper decisions for execution by the MCE and not allow themselves to be used at the expense of the people.

President Kufuor also hinted that a monitoring team would be dispatched to Kumasi to assess the performance of KMA. Party executives and a section of assembly members are calling for a review of intended increases in rates, fines and taxes because they would add to the hardship of the people.

The Chronicle has learnt that the KMA plans to increase the rate of ?12,000 a month to ?100,000 for example. The KMA is currently charging a fine of ?200,000 for every vehicle towed for unauthorized parking. About 20 to 30 cars are towed every other day the Task Force goes into operation, the MCE told a meeting of the assembly recently.

Meanwhile, the NPP Regional Chairman has advised assembly members against selfishness, which has the tendency to divide their ranks. “Their (assembly members’) main interest should be the promotion of the welfare of the people,” he said.

In a related development, Mr Maxwell Jumah, has ordered investigations of bribery leveled against some members of the Transport Commission and Task Force of the Assembly. He has charged the Complaints and Public Relations Committee of the Assembly to probe the activities of the Commission originally appointed as an advisory body to the mayor.

The order follows complaints that members of the Commission were extorting monies ranging between ?300,000 and ?700,000 from members of the public in the course of their operations.