ABSTRACT

Municipal Authorities (Assemblies) in Ghana have been unable to generate adequate revenue to effectively manage sanitation. To address this challenge, the Akuapem North and Ga West Municipalities have recently introduced a sanitation surcharge, which is collected through property rates. Using a mixed-method approach, this paper assesses the attitudes of policymakers and taxpayers towards the policy and the implications for its effective implementation. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with officials of the Municipal Assemblies while quantitative data were collected through a survey of 832 randomly selected property owners. The study revealed that policymakers’ de jure acceptance of the policy has not translated into de facto implementation. Although most taxpayers support the policy, a significant minority of them oppose it due to lack of trust in the Assemblies. Therefore, the Assemblies need to devise effective communication strategies, and enhance transparency in the use of revenue collected through the surcharge.

摘要

加纳的市政当局（议会）无法产生足够的收入来有效地管理卫生设施。为了应对这一挑战，北部的Akuapem和Ga West市政府最近引入了卫生附加费，该附加费是通过物业费收取的。本文采用混合方法，评估了政策制定者和纳税人对政策的态度及其对政策有效实施的影响。定性数据是通过与市议会官员的访谈收集的，而定量数据是通过对832个随机选择的业主的调查收集的。该研究表明，政策制定者在法律上对政策的接受并没有转化为事实上的执行。尽管大多数纳税人都支持该政策，由于对大会缺乏信任，他们中的极少数反对。因此，大会需要制定有效的沟通策略，并提高使用附加费收取的收入时的透明度。