From left: Emmanuel Benimah, Deputy General Secretary in charge of Operations, ICU-Ghana, Samuel Ananga, Deputy General Secretary in charge of Administration, ICU-Ghana, Morgan Ayawine, and Alhaji Nuru-Deen Alhassan, National Chairman, ICU-Ghana
The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) has added its voice to Organised Labour’s call for the removal of the 15 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on electricity.
The ICU described the tax, which is yet to be implemented, as another nuisance tax adding that its implementation would be unbearable for workers.
“We have demanded time without number that one of the nuisance taxes — overtime tax — should be scrapped and now VAT on electricity.
“It’s not right for the government to give its people bitter pills.
We have been swallowing bitter pills, but this time around, the introduction of VAT on electricity can be described as something that is more than a bitter pill.
“Why do we pay VAT on electricity when the people are already overburdened?” the General Secretary of the ICU, Morgan Ayawine, said during a media engagement in Accra.
It would be recalled that Organised Labour last week gave the government a one-week ultimatum to withdraw the VAT on electricity for residential customers.
The labour unions said the implementation of VAT on electricity for residential customers would worsen the plight of Ghanaians since the cost of electricity would go up by more than 15%.
Trade Unions Congress (TUC) Secretary-General, Dr. Yaw Baah, stressed that the government must withdraw the VAT with immediate effect or the workers ‘will advice themselves’.
“Our message to government is very simple: we cannot pay VAT on electricity; we will not pay it today, we will not pay it tomorrow,” he stressed.
Mr. Ayawine said it was important for the government to focus on the recovery of the economy rather than imposing VAT on electricity.
“Government is looking for trouble. Why should this thing come at this time? If there should be any trouble, then it is not from the unions but the government,” he said.
Mr. Ayawine said the union would not sit aloof for the 15 per cent VAT to be introduced on electricity.
“If after January 31 nothing is done about this, with regards to the withdrawal of the VAT on electricity, we would advise ourselves accordingly,” he said.
The ICU, he said, had started consulting its structure nationwide, and on January 31, it would join hands with Organised Labour to do what was appropriate.
He further noted that the ICU did not have the luxury of time to engage the government on the matter.
“This is not a negotiation matter. Organised Labour is not ready to sit down at the table with anybody to do any negotiation.
We are not going to negotiate; our simple request is that the government should withdraw the directive and stay the status quo,” he said.
He took the opportunity to urge ICU members to adhere to the decision that would be taken by its leadership.
A Business Desk Report