The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), has deployed 100 special revenue collectors to Kantamanto Market to begin collecting a GH¢2 daily toll from traders to improve revenue mobilization and support sanitation management.
The deployment follows earlier engagements between the Assembly and market leadership last year on the need to regularise toll collection, improve cleanliness, and enforce order within the market after its reopening.
The Accra Mayor, Mr Michael Kpakpo Allotey, urged the revenue collectors to carry out the exercise with confidence, discipline, and professionalism, stressing on the fact that they were undertaking an official assignment on behalf of the Assembly and should remain focused in the discharge of their duties.
He indicated that the toll would be collected from traders who are actively operating in the market, particularly those trading on tabletops and in open sheds, reminding the collectors that the system would be based on daily business activity, not advance billing.
“The exercise is not intended to harass traders, but to ensure compliance with the Assembly’s lawful revenue measures and to sustain the services that the AMA continues to provide in the market,” the mayor said.
The Coordinating Director of the Assembly, Mr Douglas Annoful, explained that the 100 collectors have been grouped into teams of five, with each team assigned a supervisor to guide them, answer questions, and help resolve difficulties they might face during the exercise.
According to him, the arrangement was necessary to ensure collectors remain properly coordinated while working in various sections of the market. Senior officers of the Assembly will also accompany the teams to address operational challenges, including refusal to pay, the need for change, or uncertainty over particular trading spots.
He noted that, “Supervisors have not been assigned to engage in confrontation, but rather to provide support, protect the collectors from unnecessary difficulty, and ensure that the exercise is conducted in an orderly and lawful manner.”
Faustina Naa Ayele Johnson -ISD
