Forty-eight Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country failed to collect more than GH¢10.55 million in internally generated revenue in 2025, denying themselves funds needed for development projects and increasing their dependence on the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), the Auditor-General has disclosed.
The revelation is contained in the Auditor-General’s Report on the Accounts of District Assemblies for the financial year ended December 31, 2025.
According to the report, the affected Assemblies failed to collect a total of GH¢10,550,194.48 from property rates, business operating permits, rents from occupants of government bungalows, market tolls and other revenue sources by the end of the 2025 financial year.
“We noted that 48 Assemblies failed to collect revenue totalling GH¢10,550,194.48 from property rates, business operating permits, rent, market tolls and other revenue sources,” the Auditor-General stated.
The report said the Assemblies’ inability to recover the outstanding revenue had affected their capacity to undertake development projects and meet other financial obligations.
“The failure to collect the revenue deprived the Assemblies of funds needed for development projects and statutory obligations, consequently increasing reliance on the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to finance administrative expenditures,” the report noted.
To address the situation, the Auditor-General directed the management of the affected Assemblies to intensify revenue mobilisation efforts and ensure that all outstanding amounts are recovered.
“We recommended that Management of the respective Assemblies strengthen revenue mobilisation efforts and actively pursue all defaulters for recovery of the outstanding GH¢10,550,194.48, including initiating legal procedures where necessary to ensure full recovery,” the report recommended.
The uncollected revenue formed part of wider cash irregularities amounting to GH¢35.43 million recorded in 112 Assemblies during the period under review. According to the Auditor-General, the irregularities were identified under revenue mobilisation, cash management and expenditure controls.
Apart from the GH¢10.55 million in uncollected revenue, the report identified GH¢5.12 million paid as over-commission to an outsourced revenue collector. It also recorded GH¢916,633.04 in unaccounted revenue, GH¢782,422.45 in unsupported payments, GH¢394,171.96 in unaccounted payments, GH¢214,654.70 involving payment vouchers that were not presented for audit, and GH¢83,090 involving unpresented market tickets, stickers and lorry park tickets
The report further highlighted compliance and administrative irregularities amounting to GH¢17.32 million. Among them were GH¢11.12 million relating to the failure to settle an outstanding loan secured with government lands as collateral, GH¢2.98 million involving the outsourcing of easily collectible revenue to Omni Strategies Limited, GH¢1.39 million relating to the misapplication of Ghana Gas Project funds, GH¢1.35 million arising from inefficient revenue collection, and GH¢474,800 resulting from the failure to allot completed market sheds.
The Auditor-General urged the affected Assemblies to improve their revenue mobilisation systems, enforce existing laws on the collection of internally generated funds and strengthen internal controls to prevent future losses.
The report stressed that recovering the outstanding revenue would provide the Assemblies with additional resources to undertake development projects and reduce their dependence on transfers from the central government.
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