SCCB-Africa at the ACRC Urban Property-Tax Workshop

From 19–21 May 2025, SCCB-Africa participated in a three-day Urban Property-Tax Workshop in Accra, organized by the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC). The workshop brought together policymakers, researchers, traditional authorities, and development partners to address the persistent revenue gap in property taxation across African cities.

Discussions highlighted both technical and political challenges. The technical challenges included outdated cadastres, manual billing, inadequate citizen engagement processes, low trust, and poor enforcement. Political-economy barriers such as vested interests, resistance from influential taxpayers, and intergovernmental bargaining were also identified as major obstacles to reform.

SCCB-Africa’s Research Manager, Mr. Abdul-Bassit Abubakar played an active role as a rapporteur and contributed to deliberations throughout the workshop. His engagement helped capture insights for reflection and follow-up actions.

Our participation underscores SCCB-Africa’s commitment to capacity building, inclusive development, knowledge sharing, and citizen participation. The workshop’s emphasis on building trust and forging broad reform coalitions directly aligns with our efforts to provide platforms that strengthen citizen engagement and support effective local governance across Africa.