Anthony Kobina Kurentsir Sam
The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Anthony Kobina Kurentsir Sam, has revealed that the assembly has been able to make some significant financial savings through a staff rationalization exercise it embarked on some months ago.
He revealed that the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) would save over GH¢20,000 of its internally generated revenue (IGF) at the end of September this year through the rationalization exercise to support its expenditure.
The MCE stated that the rationalization exercise had been successfully executed and that twenty-eight (28) members of staff were laid off.
He revealed that prior to the exercise, the assembly was paying about GH¢91,000 as salaries and overtime allowances a month.
He disclosed: “I can report that we have made some modest savings because effective September, 2018, the amount we spend will come to about GH¢66,000 a month. Meanwhile, the assembly has paid a total amount of GH¢56,443.88 as severance package to those who were laid off”.
The MCE revealed this in his sessional address at the Second Ordinary Meeting of the Third Session of the STMA.
According to him, the assembly set itself a revenue target of GH¢9,106,981.44 for 2018 and that at the end of August this year, it had been able to collect GH¢6,316,803.39 representing 69.36 per cent.
“Comparatively, we had collected GH¢5,305,275.28 at the same time last year, showing that there has been an improvement in our performance”, he added.
The Sekondi-Takoradi MCE mentioned that the assembly’s total budget for 2019 that would be presented to the assembly members in due course was GH¢24.9 million which was lower than the GH¢27.2 million approved in 2018.
He indicated that the ‘planting for food and jobs’ programme in the area had been expanded to include maize, cassava and vegetables and that the department of agriculture was expecting 360 bags of NPK fertilizer and 80 bags of Urea fertilizer.
“I am happy to inform this house that the department received 40 subsidized coupons for NPK fertilizer and 18 coupons for Urea fertilizer which translate into 2,000 bags and 900 bags of NPK and Urea fertilizer respectively,” he revealed.
He indicated that the department had distributed all the coupons to farmers in the metropolis.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Sekondi