Regional & Local Authorities: NW Independent Conciliator launches campaign to improve non-tax revenues.

This was during a ceremony held in Bamenda. It was launched on the theme “New sources, new strength: Growing council revenue beyond taxes”.

The campaign brought together media practitioners from the North West Region, who were tasked to take the message to the corners of the region using the national languages, pidgin English, community radios, local based community assistant and development partners.

In his speech during the event, North West Public Independent Conciliator, Tamfu Simon Fai, noted that the campaign is aimed at increasing the revenue stream of the councils.

He said his office has realised that the councils are very rich but are not harnessing the possible sources of revenue that they have at their disposal.

Tamfu also indicated that the councils depend so much on government transfers which are not adequate to address the local problems in the North West Region.

He noted that they are expecting the local and regional councils to desist from past practices and embrace the new revenue generation that they are proposing to them. 

"When you have a council that can invest in heavy duty equipment, that equipment can be rented. If you have a council which can develop catering services, they can deliver food and drinks to all the ceremonies in the region, and they will generate revenue from there," he explained 

Speaking further, Tamfu highlighted that the campaign is to strengthen revenue mobilisation from non-tax sources while enhancing probity, transparency, and accountability in the financial management of the Regional and Local Authorities in the North West Region. 

"Our approach is not to place an additional burden on citizens, rather we want to encourage our councils to ask themselves whether they are making full and responsible use of the non-tax revenue-generating opportunities that already exist within the communities, like in markets, parking lots, transport facilities, public spaces, council properties including heavy duty equipment like bulldozers, graders, front-end loads, trucks, amongst others," he said.

The PIC also revealed that government introduced a significant restructuring of the local tax administration system, shifting the collection of municipal taxes and levies from local councils to the central administration.

He said rather than directly collecting revenues, councils will function through newly established local taxation monitoring units.

Tamfu also said that the council's role will now focus on identifying taxable persons and businesses, transmitting taxpayer information to tax authorities, supporting field operations, supervising collection activities, and producing reports on local tax performance.

"For many years, councils depended largely on internal generated revenues and government transfers, so the councils have to think out of the box, so that the central government transfers will just be a plus to their revenue," he said 

The PIC also indicated that for the Regional and Local Authorities, the campaign will be a call to institutional and responsible leadership. 

"Citizens need to know what they are paying, why they are paying it, how much they are expected to pay, and where appropriate, how resources contribute to local development," he noted.

The campaign messages include "every Franc deserves a receipt", "open book, trusted councils", "support local revenue, see local development ", "watch how the money is spent: watch it”, Track it. Own it".

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3924 of Tuesday September 29, 2026