- "People of Ghana have lost faith in the government and I think they have to work very hard if they are going to try and over the next two, three years change that perspective. They (the government) may see it as a mid-term issue but I think most people are disappointed in what they’re doing at the moment.”
Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, the 2020 presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), has advised the government to organise its internal affairs following various accounts of the potential impact of the Electronic Transactions Levy, commonly known as the E-Levy.
Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, said earlier that, following the conclusion of extensive consultations on the yet-to-be passed tax, the government was poised to resubmit the E-Levy Bill to Parliament.
Meanwhile, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader, insisted that Parliament had already taken a unanimous decision to approve the additional 1.75% tax on electronic transactions involving more than GHC100.
Incoherent message
However, speaking to Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Asaase Radio on Monday, Greenstreet said: “… we have the Majority Leader saying one thing, the Ministry of Finance saying another, and now the deputy [finance] minister is saying something else. So, I think they need to get their house in order and start communicating to the people of Ghana in a transparent way what it is that they propose to do.
“And that’s one of the reasons why people are so opposed to the E-Levy – because, clearly, they feel as though the finances of this nation are not being managed in a way that demonstrates transparency, integrity and honesty and are beginning to lose faith or have lost faith in the direction the government is taking us …
“The people of Ghana have lost faith in the government and I think they have to work very hard if they are going to try … over the next two [or] three years, to change that perspective,” Greenstreet said. “They [the government] may see it as a midterm issue but I think most people are disappointed in what they’re doing at the moment.”
Sensitisation
The government, led by the Minister for Finance, will be embarking imminently on public engagement on the levy and a sensitisation campaign.
The campaign will travel across the country, helping to explain the importance of the tax to all Ghanaians.
Ken Ofori-Atta says the engagement will enable the government to “communicate clearly on the proposed mechanics of the E-Levy and its potential benefits to the people of Ghana within the spirit of burden-sharing that must guide us in our development efforts as we move Ghana beyond aid”.
Nicholas Brown
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