A constant refrain heard is that Ghanaians don’t like paying tax, the reason why revenue for the Government’s developmental programmes is usually below what is expected, thus the need to widen the tax net.
We also hear the same complaint about attitude to paying utilities bills and other statutory obligations, such as Property Rate (PR).
Currently my local assembly, the Ablekuma West Municipal Assembly (ABWMA) seems to have launched a Property Rate offensive, which is what has prompted this article.
But the question must be asked: do the institutions or establishments ensure that people find it easy to settle bills? For example, in this digital age, why can’t all revenue collection for the state have an electronic payment component too – one that works efficiently?
I think that this is an issue that should engage the attention of both the Ministry of Local Government (Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), as part of the state’s revenue maximisation agenda. After all, the stated Mission of the GRA is “To mobilise revenue for national development in a transparent, fair, effective and efficient manner”.
It appears that mostly the convenience of clients is not important to the revenue collecting agencies. Even when people pay, evidently many institutions don’t keep proper records, the reason why some billing notices include: “If you have paid already, please disregard this message”, and similar.
Why can’t they keep records of payments, so that there will be demands to only those in arrears?
Last Thursday, November 20, a man called at my house to deliver a “WARNING NOTICE, PROPERTY RATE BILL… It appears from our records that an amount of GH¢1,000.00 Ghana cedis is still being owed on your Property Rate account no… as at 20/11/2025 …
“Take note that if the arrears are not paid on or before 26th November, 2025, legal proceedings will be taken against you … without further communication to you.
“Where payment have (sic) already been made please present receipt for verification and updating of our records.” (Emphasis added.)
I don’t know about other ABWMA homeowners, but last year I received no PR bill; ditto this year. Yet, I have been given a “warning notice”, and threatened with court action! As the saying goes, ‘(this can happen) only in Ghana’!
Thus, obviously, my PR arrears are due to a simple reason: No bills received. And as it was so frustrating, I forgot to continue trying to check my account online. To compound the problem, each time I did manage to access the site, the assurance there was: “No outstanding bills found.”
It will be recalled that some years ago, PR payment moved into the digital age, with the launch of a portal, “myassembly.gov.ghl, part of a unified platform for property rate collection…. To pay, go to portal.myassembly.gov.gh, log in with your phone number …and make payments electronically through various methods like mobile money.” It sounded so straightforward!
However, even then trying to access the portal, proved to be extremely vexatious! After I eventually got through, I had the monumental challenge of navigating a cluster of flickering departmental headings, vanishing before I could click on one and pay.
Nevertheless, on Friday, November 21, I decided to try to access the portal again, to confirm the debt, hoping that this time there would be no vexation. Wishful thinking!
Each time I typed in the portal address, the message was: “This site cannot be reached.”
A call to the Assembly didn’t achieve any positive result, although the impression I got was that ABWMA is aware that their electronic payment system is not working well. The call ended with a “you will have to come to the Assembly”.
That response is, of course, typical of the ‘come tomorrow’ attitude of Ghanaian service-providers, with little or no regard for the convenience of clients.
Should a client have to go in person to make a simple payment when there is an electronic system in place?
Why does an establishment spend money to set up an online payment system that people find hard to access?
A couple of years ago a short code for PR payments, *222*55#, was announced, so last Friday I decided to try that one, too.
Success was achieved at last, and the response was: “No outstanding bills found”. Again, that was last Friday, November 21, 2025.
So Ablekuma West Municipal Assembly, if your own electronic payment apps tell me I have no arrears, why have I been given a “Warning Notice”, with threat of court action?
Still, on Saturday, November 22, too, I kept trying to test both the short code and the portal.
After finally accessing the portal, I was surprised to get this message on my phone: “Your Login OTP is …; this expires after 5 minutes, do not share it with anyone”!!!
Why on earth does an Assembly needing clients to PAY MONEY TO IT put in a time-out restriction? What is the need for a ‘One-time password’ (OTP) in this matter? After all, I’m trying to make a payment, I’m NOT COLLECTING MONEY FROM the Assembly!
What is the problem if somebody else sees the OTP? (Curiously, the OTP that was supposed to expire after five minutes, was still on my phone at the time of filing this article on Tuesday, November 25!)
Numerous portal attempts later, I succeeded, but the fluttering message there was “Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the console for more information)! What did it mean?!
Nevertheless, I was on a testing mission, so I continued trying and eventually accessed the site, only to encounter another complication! The ‘Dashboard’ there showed a confusing, flickering, acrobatic array of departmental headings, which kept disappearing before I could decide the appropriate one. It seems that the designer of the Assembly’s system was more interested in displaying his/her design prowess than creating a simple user-friendly facility!
When I finally succeeded, what I saw was “Outstanding Bill Amount”: GH¢154, for 2023. But under Payment History, the statement there was that on September 18, 2023, I had paid GHc154! How can both be correct, an unpaid 2023 bill of GH¢154 and a 2023 payment of GH¢154?
Arithmetic was never my forte, but my calculator shows that even if I owe PR for 2024 and 2025, 154 x 2 is 308, so how come I’m told I now owe GH¢1,000?
Clearly, there is something seriously wrong with the ABWMA’s electronic PR payment system, not to mention their record keeping! Why not an app dedicated only to Property Rate payments, instead of one that is part of a “unified platform”?
How many clients have the inclination – and the time – to try countless times to use a payment system that is so vexatious?
Now that in Ghana even income tax returns can be filed online, thanks to the exemplary initiative and pragmatism of the GRA, similarly, I think all revenue collecting agencies, too, should have both in-person and online payment options.
Equally importantly, where an online system is in operation, IT SHOULD BE CONSTANTLY MONITORED TO ENSURE THAT IT IS WORKING!
Certainly, there are responsible citizens who want to settle their statutory bills, if and when received. But the paying should not be an ordeal!
Fortunately, there are institutional electronic payment systems worthy of emulation, such as that of the Ghana Water Company Ltd.
Another example is that of the National Health Insurance Scheme. The NHIS Renewal short code, *929#, is very user-friendly. One can immediately find out one’s membership status – as in whether, “ACTIVE”; including the ‘active’ start and expiry dates, too.
And, interestingly, now apparently, hospitals too have online messaging to make life easier for patients.
A recent message I received from Cocoa Clinic was: “Dear Ms. AJOA, your lab results are ready… Thank you for choosing Cocoa Clinic.” Impressive and heart-warming!
Whatever the problem, ABWMA should solve it and resume sending clients bills.
As indicated, I doubt very much if I do owe my Assembly a whopping GH¢1000 – unless there have been unannounced PR increments.
Nonetheless, I have dutifully settled the dubious GH¢1000 “arrears”, by sending someone to the Assembly to pay – in the expectation that my account will eventually reflect a credit. I paid not because of the court threat, but because by nature when I receive a lawful bill, I pay, even before the deadline.
So next year, ABWMA had better not send me a “WARNING NOTICE” with threat of court action. They’re not the only ones who know lawyers’ chambers!
By Ajoa Yeboah-Afari