Stakeholder Engagement With Church Leaders In The Wokumagbe Electoral Area On Property Rate Collection

The management of the Ada West District Assembly led by the Accounts Department on Thursday, 25th June 2026 held a stakeholder engagement with fifteen (15) churches in the Wokumagbe Electoral Area in the Ada West District on property rate collection.

The meeting which took place at the Gospel Healing Church Int premises was to provide platform to sensitize two Church leaders each from the fifteen (15) churches to appreciate the importance of revenue generation and to plead with them to use their pulpit to educate church members on property rate collection.

Property rate collection has been a general challenge for most of the District Assemblies in Ghana for years and the Ada West Assembly is no exception. Consequently, management had taken a decision after engaging with all elected Assembly members on 25th May 2026 to roll out property rate collection in the course of the year after some public education. Accordingly, a public sensitization education campaign on revenue mobilization (including property rate collection) was carried out with the information van of the Assembly in some selected communities namely; Sege, Matsekope, Ahliakposisi, Koluedor, Hwakpo, Addokope, Adjumanikope, Bonikope, Akplabanya, Anyaman and Goi from 8th June 2026 to 13th June 2026. The essence was on the importance of revenue generation to raise the needed funds to respond to the development needs of the people.

The Wokumagbe stakeholder engagement with Church elders therefore was to deepen public education and to create a participatory platform for discussion on the subject matter as part of planned activities for public sensitization on revenue mobilization with focus on property rate collection.

The District Information officer (Dennis Y. Akoetey) who led the discussion shared with the participants the essence of revenue generation and property rate collection and this was complemented by the District Finance officer (Precious K. Kuagbedzie), the Revenue accountant (Emmanuel Acquah) and the Assistant Budget officer (Richard Darko Addo). It was made known to the participants, that, because the culture of property rate payment has not been with us for ages, to start with, the Assembly had decided to suspend the actual property rate fixed through fee fixing resolution by the General Assembly and to start in the interim with a flat rate of One Hundred Ghana Cedis (Ghc100.00) but with exception of certainty categories of property that may be considered within a different bracket, relatively higher, based on some verifiable facts.

The session also discussed Registration of Churches with the Assembly within the meaning of section 149 (1) (a) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 Act 936 (as amended) which provides for exemption from property rate payment thus “the following tenements are exempted from assessment and rating: (a) premises appropriated exclusively for the purpose of public worship and registered with the District Assembly…”

The Church leaders were therefore urged to ensure that their respective churches are registered with the Ada West District Assembly at a fee in order to come under the exemption window provided by the Local Governance Act for purposes of property rate collection.

After the presentation moderated by the Assembly member for the area, Hon. Francis Tetteh Alimo, there was an open forum and participants asked series of questions and answers were provided. One of the striking questions asked was “if after paying property rate and the property in question later develops defects, would the Assembly remedy the defect on the property for the property owner?”

Some also raised concerns about the ghc100.00 flat rate and indicated that it should be reviewed downward but the team tried to let them understand that the ghc100 to start with for most property is a good start and appealed to the participants to embrace it as a starter.

The session also discussed the need to mount additional barrier within the Wokumagbe Electoral Area to enhance collection of conveyance of fish production out of the district and appealed to the community to collaborate and aid the safety of the barrier post, if actualized.