Interview

Revenue collection is our major challenge

- Mbongo Alfred Ngoe, Mayor Ekondo-Titi

*Which are some of the revenue sources of Ekondo-Titi council?

Mbongo Alfred Ngoe   

-We have several sources of revenue, but I will first mention the local sources that I prefer to classify as recurrent revenue and investment revenue. For recurrent revenue, we have small businesses that pay some levies to the council. That is the principal source of local revenue. We also have building permits and packing fees (stationnement in French) that is a quarterly collection from vehicles. We also have incidental revenues from the beach, investment revenues from council asserts like rents for market stalls, buildings and town hall. So basically these are the sources of local revenue for the typically rural Ekondo-Titi council. Then we also have other revenues that come from the state most especially the quarterly additional council taxes that we get from FEICOM. So, in all, these are the basic sources of revenue that we use to carryout our expenditures at the council.

*We understand that revenue collectors always siphon money collected into their private pockets, instead of declaring same at the council cash counters. What are some of the measures the council has taken to mitigate such malpractice?

-Thank you very much for that question which addresses one of the ills we are fighting at the council. You may want to know that the fight against corruption is one of the hallmarks of my tenure as mayor of the Ekondo-Titi council. And to fight corruption we have realized that it is important that we should start at the base and move right up to the top. So we have come up with a decision to the effect that anyone that is responsible to collect council revenue must do so with the issuance of a corresponding receipt. Secondly, all revenue collectors must be identified in the field. In light of this we have provided special uniforms that these collectors must wear when going to the field so that the public should identify them as the council revenue collectors and anybody without the uniform should be considered an impostor and immediately reported to the council. These two measures have greatly helped us to track those who used to collect council money without declaring it at the council. We have also sensitized the population to ask for a council receipt from any one who comes asking for council revenue. We have also put in place other measures that help us identify and track down those who try to embezzle council revenue. Culprits are metted various punishments ranging from a query to suspension of salaries or even dismissal from work.

*What are some of the challenges you face in the field in terms of revenue collection?

-Yea it is quite a hectic challenge because you know generally it is difficult to collect money from somebody. It is not easy to go to somebody and collect money. There are so many people who don’t see the need to pay anything to the council. But we keep sensitizing the population to help the council to give them needed development. For those that prove to be head strong we use forceful recovery procedures. So the major challenge we face is the evasion or outright refusal to pay council taxes by some people.