A renowned television presenter and a brand ambassador of Reflo Company, Anita Akuffo is calling on the government to remove taxes on sanitary products in its 2024 budget as part efforts to end period poverty among most women.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta will be presenting next year’s budget in November after Parliament returned from recess on Tuesday (31 October). Ahead of the presentation, the minister has disclosed that the government will be prioritising how to get the private sector back “into stable” position.
Reflo Company, a local manufacturing company of sanitary products has donated sanitary material to hundreds of head porters widely known as “kayayei”.
Reflo’s, Company donated over 1,500 sanitary pads to the Kayayei within the Accra Central Business District. The initiative was to educate young women on the importance of menstrual hygiene in observance of International Day of the Girl Child.
Already, a private member’s bill proposing an amendment to remove the 15% Value Added Tax (VAT) on menstrual hygiene products has been sent to Parliament for consideration.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the event, Akuffo said she hopes that the government would waive off the taxes on sanitary products to mitigate the plight of women.
“When it comes to the taxes on sanitary pads, it’s very unfortunate because this is a natural phenomenon when it comes to that time of the month and the ladies experience their monthly flow, it’s something you can not control,” she said. “It happens naturally and so having 20% taxes on imports when it comes to sanitary pads, it’s rather unfortunate.”
“We are really hoping that the government can do something about this and if not even scrap, it can be reduced to the barest minimum so we have a lot more people been able to pay for sanitary pads because it doesn’t really go well for a lot of ladies when these products have become luxury items,” she added.
For his part, the general manager for Reflo’s Company Limited, Nana Aseefua, also made a clarion call to the government to remove taxes on pads to make them affordable for the ordinary Ghanaian woman.
“We are urging the government to either lower the tax on sanitary pads or remove taxes altogether in light of this urgent problem. If taken into account, sanitary pads will be less expensive, allowing every young woman in the country, regardless of economic status, to afford what she needs to experience menstruation and, as a result, practice menstrual hygiene,” she said.
Reporting by Philip Abutiate in Accra
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