Former Presisent John Dramani Mahama has declared the stand of the main opposition political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the Electronic Transfer Levy, also known as E-levy that it will abolished it.
He dscribed the levy as distortionary and burdensome tax which will bring more suffering on Ghanaians.
“We in the NDC do not oppose taxation as a principle. We will not be pretentious and couch fanciful slogans to condemn the principle of taxation like the NPP did in the past. We are, however, implacably opposed to distortionary and burdensome taxes like the e-levy that only force Ghanaians to endure more suffering.
“A new National Democratic Congress Government, God willing and with the votes of the sovereign people of Ghana – in 2025 – will repeal the E-Levy Act,” he said while delivering an address titled “Ghana at Crossroad” on Monday May 2.
He further said the ongoing geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine cannot be the reason Ghanaians are suffering.
According to the 2020 NDC Presidential Candidate, the people of Ghana were struggling due to the bad economic management by President Akufo-Addo way before the outbreak of the warfare.
He said “The Russia-Ukraine conflict cannot possibly, be responsible for the suffering we are going through.
“The sufferings Ghanaians are going through predate the war. Before this conflicts, our currency had already been depreciating and was impacting negatively on fuel and commodity prices in our markets, fuel prices have gone up on more than forty different occasions since 2017, long before Russia and Ukraine started fighting.”
Mr. Mahama was of the view that the NPP government came into office in January 2017 on the back of mouth watering promises of almost instant transformation of our country amidst countless slogans but failed to fulfill those promises.
He noted “President Akufo-Addo did promise to transform Ghana in 18 months if voted. Yes, he promised to turn around the fortunes of Ghana and create opportunities for for all and he charged all of us to be citizens and not spectators. A significant number of us citizens associated the promises with good and noble intentions in return and despite our best efforts, the Ghanaian people offered the NPP a clear mandate in 2017 to steer the affairs of ours dear country.”
He added “An assessment of our current conditions show that what is happening now, there is very little or no resemblance for what was promised. There is a sharp disparity between promise and practice. Today, most Ghanaians feel they were hoodwinked and this is manifesting in their personal livelihoods and their daily struggles.
“Perhaps the most defining challenge of our time is making our economy work for everybody. Over the several months our political space and societal reaction has been dominated by discussions of the challenges with introducing even more taxes.
“These conversations have taken place against the backdrop of unparalleled cronyism, nepotism and breaches of basic tenets of conflicts of intents, transparency and accountable governance.
The E-levy started on Sunday May 1, 2022 amidst some challenges.
The NDC heavily opposed the introduction of the levy, saying that it is punitive and amounts to double taxation.
The bill was passed by Parliament on Tuesday March 29 and assented to by the President.
On Tuesday April 19 they filed an application at the Supreme Court to block the commencement of the e-levy deductions but the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame has responded to the application by describing it as incompetent.
Meanwhile, the hearing of this application is expected to be heard on Wednesday May 4.
By Vincent Kubi