ENCOURAGE PAYMENT OF TAXES (PAGE 11)

THE Akatsi District Co-ordinating Director, Mr David Kanyi, has urged government appointees to district assemblies to encourage Ghanaians to pay legitimate fees passed by the assembly to enable the assembly to make progress in national reconstruction efforts.
He said they should also conduct research into their fields of expertise in order to let their findings serve as inputs in the development agenda of the assembly.
Mr Kanyi said this when he addressed the inaugural ceremony of 16 government appointees to the Akatsi District Assembly at Akatsi last Tuesday.
He stressed the need for attitudinal change, especially on time management, adding that as assembly members it would be prudent to consider the payment of their sitting allowance to be calculated according to the number of hours they spent on deliberations.
He, therefore, admonished them to desist from lateness to functions since that attitude could retard the development of the district
Mr Kanyi also advised them to commit themselves to making positive and effective contributions to the assembly to enable them play a leading role of steering foward the development of Akatsi District.
He said the district was deprived in education, health and potable water which served as challenges which they were expected to face and to check schoolchildren from abandoning classes to push trucks on market days.
He advised them to lobby for investment in the district, adding that abundant resources in the district remained untapped and that there was the need to work hard to move the district foward.
“ Let us do our best in all things to enable the district to move in the right direction,” he charged.
The Akatsi District Police Commander, Superintendent Victor Frank Awu, deplored the high rate of crime in the area, saying that thieves and gangs had relocated from Ashaiman to invade Akatsi and were settling in Zongo, Agbaflome and Tatorme.
He also deplored the attitude of some prominent citizens who often came to plead on behalf of suspects when they were arrested.
Supt. Awu appealed to assembly members to co-operate with the police to track down criminals in the communities since the police could not do all in view of limited workforce and the lack of vehicle.
The Akatsi District Magistrate, Mr Daniel Dorkpoh, administered the oaths of office and secrecy to the government appointees .