The Minister-designate for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has pledged to introduce a fully digital system for the revenue mobilisation, payment and disbursement of revenue collected by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to make it harder for funds to be diverted.
Speaking during his vetting by Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, August, 27, 2026, Mr Ayariga said the system would digitally track the process from identifying and valuing properties liable to pay rates to the collection and eventual disbursement of the money.
He said the move would address what he described as longstanding weaknesses in local revenue mobilisation and accountability.
“I will look at how we can get a system that is centrally monitored, a system that is designed in such a way that it is totally digital in terms of identifying and valuing properties, totally digital in terms of the mechanism for payment, and totally digital in terms of the disbursement of the resources,” he said.
Mr Ayariga said the proposed system was intended to reduce the human interference that currently makes it possible for locally generated revenue to be diverted.
He told the Committee that revenue collection at the local level could be affected by political and personal relationships, particularly where MMDCEs rely on politically connected individuals to collect rates and other charges.
“When you leave it to them to collect, they may also end up leaving it in the hands of, you know, party foot soldiers, families, nephews, and etc,” he said.
According to him, some collectors could regard the revenue they collect as a reward for supporting a family member or political associate to secure an MMDCE position, making accountability difficult.
Mr Ayariga therefore said the proposed system would centralise monitoring while removing as much human intervention as possible from the collection and movement of Assembly revenue.
As part of the proposed digital system, Mr Ayariga said properties across the country would first have to be identified, properly described and valued.
He distinguished this from Ghana’s existing street naming and property addressing system, which he said primarily establishes the location and address of a property but does not provide the information needed to determine its value for rating purposes.
“The first major thing I will do as Minister is to put in place an infrastructure for us to immediately identify all properties across the country that are supposed to be paying rates to the Assemblies,” he said.
Mr Ayariga said the objective would be to create a system that enables Assemblies to determine the appropriate rates while ensuring that payments and subsequent disbursements are digitally recorded.
He said the approach would help Assemblies realise their revenue potential while improving transparency in the management of locally generated funds.
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