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Kwame Jantuah, a private legal practitioner has expressed disappointment over what he describes as the seeming silence of the Office of the President regarding the E-Levy impasse in Parliament.
The Minority in Parliament on Friday rejected a reduction of the Electronic Transaction, Levy, to 1.5% from 1.75% after further consultation.
“The President and his Vice have been silent on this matter and I don’t understand why. In situations like this, I want to listen to his words. Even if he won’t speak, he should act as referee,” Jantuah told Asaase News.
“It’s embarrassing what’s happening in Parliament and it will happen again. I’m not for the politicisation of E-Levy. The sad thing about it is that the minister of finance is trying to make this a patriotic issue but it’s not a patriotic issue,” he said.
Jantuah further called on the government to come clear on what it intends to do if the E-Levy is not passed to correct the erroneous impression that the economy will collapse without E-Levy.
“Are they saying that if they don’t get E-Levy, they won’t undertake projects and the economy will collapse? In any case, they’re supposed to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse.”
“What’s the plan B for E-Levy? And is it true that if we don’t get E-Levy, the economy will collapse or they’re just trying to frighten us?” Jantuah asked.
Cooperate and let’s pass E-Levy
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communication and Digitisation, has appealed to the minority and those opposed to the passage of the E-Levy to help and cooperate with the government to pass the bill.
Using the success chalked in the telecommunications industry as an example after the communications service tax was fiercely opposed upon its introduction in 2008, Ursula said the post-implementation of the E-Levy bill will be nothing short of success.
Speaking at the town hall meeting in Koforidua on Thursday (27 January), Owusu-Ekuful said: “I dare say and I appeal to them (opposition) to cooperate with the government and work with us to pass this levy as well because ultimately, the results that we got from the communication service tax which clearly did not destroy the industry, will also be evident, post-implementation of this levy as we are all working collectively to enhance access to and use of digital platforms.”
Speaking on the same platform, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, said the introduction of the E-Levy by the NPP government is not the most egregious tax ever to be passed in this country.
Ofori-Atta said the introduction of the E-Levy has been necessitated by the country’s quest to develop using its own resources and not through constant borrowings from external sources.
The minister said the country cannot afford to enter into another programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the restrictions could not help the country’s development at this time.
Fred Dzakpata – Asaase Radio
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