It has emerged that the Kumbungu District Assembly was benefiting substantially from sand winning activities along the white Volta.
The activities which were taking place along several points in the Nawuni area were said to be destroying vegetation cover and consequently affecting the river.
Sand winning activities were the major revenue for the assembly and its annual Internal Generated Fund (IGF) targets were based mainly on toll collection from tipper trucks carting the sand.
Sources at the Assembly revealed that it had set 80,000 thousand Ghana cedis as its target for 2018 but had already generated over 100, 000 cedis in the first quarter.
The assembly, in 2017 was not able generate up to 50% of the 80,000 cedis it set for itself and decided to maintain same for 2018, the source added.
Chairman of the Finance and Administration sub- committee, Chief Nwana told Zaa News the committee was worried adding that the assembly could encounter financial difficulties in the wake of the ban on sand winning activities in the Dalun area.
In March 2018, the government Taskforce christened Operation Vanguard stormed a sand winning site at Afayili, a farming community in the Kumbungu district and set ablaze some 14 tipper trucks and an excavator.
The destruction of the equipment generated several condemnations and demands for compensation. The kumbungu Assembly was caught in a state of dilemma, the destruction of vegetation and water bodies and IGF.
Impact on cement sales and construction
One sector in the northern region that has been drastically affected by the activities of Operation Vanguard, the team tasked to enforce government’s campaign against illegal mining activities in the country, is the Construction industry. The action of the team led to the burning of some 14 tipper trucks and an excavator at Afayili in the Kumbungu district earlier this month.
The major material for building is no more coming from its source. After the unfortunate incident, which the defence minister has justified, the tipper truck union declared a sit-down strike and has since prevented all its members from carting sea sand to the regional capital-Tamale.
While the union is demanding compensation, cement distributors and dealers’ businesses activities have recorded low sales. The Chairman of the Northern Region Cement Distributors Association, Alhaji Abdul Razak Yahaya told Zaa News that the incident has badly affected their sales.
He explained that they also don’t like the strike by the tipper trucks union because, they are no longer selling like they used to, in the last few months before the sad incident.
“The only places our members make sales are places outside Tamale, like Yendi, Gushegu and Karaga but Tamale township and its environs no. Those who have deposited monies are not picking and our potential customers are not also forthcoming,” he added.
Revenue generation at the Kumbungu district assembly has also reduced drastically. Sand winning was one of the major revenue sources of the assembly, but after Operation Vanguard stormed the area, sand winning activities have been halted.
A member of the finance and administration (F&A) sub-committee of the assembly said minor sources of revenue for the Kumbungu assembly are trucks carting vegetables from the Bontanga irrigation dam.
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