Michael Okyere Baafi
DEPUTY MINISTER of Trade and Industry, Michael Okyere Baafi, on Monday educated his constituents on the Electronic Transaction Levy in Koforidua.
The town hall meeting brought together the constituents who besieged at the taxi rank and central market.
The Deputy Minister, since the introduction of the E-Levy policy, has been a strong campaigner for the passage of the controversial bill which is pending in Parliament.
Michael Okyere Baafi, last week on radio, explained that the downgrade of Ghana to B- by an international credit rating agency, Fitch was because investors were afraid of imminent political instability in Ghana.
According to him, “Investors are also afraid to invest in our country due to the fear that what happened in Guinea or Burkina Faso can happen in Ghana.”
Michael Okyere Baafi however believes that “there is all indication that we need to mobilise and generate funds domestically to develop the country.”
He explained that the passage of the E-Levy Bill is very critical to the survival and development of the country, adding that, the Majority caucus in Parliament will take advantage of its numerical superiority to pass the E-Levy at all cost.
“One of the things the NDC members in Parliament do not know is that they think now we have hung parliament. They think that they are 137 and we are 137 and 1 independent so we have the same numbers, this is a lie. One is more than the other. This is the reason why in Parliament there is something called a caucus. Party does not work in Parliament once you step foot in Parliament House, we work with caucuses, we have Majority and Minority so when you are independent you have to choose and join either Minority or Majority, and so we have the numbers more than them.”
Michael Okyere Baafi continued, “over the period we decided to engage and consult but still they refuse to accept the passage of the E- Levy but we will pass it once the Speaker is in Parliament and has not travelled. We will use our numbers to pass it. Very simple.”
He maintained that E-Levy will increase Ghana’s tax to GDP ratio to at least 16.5% which would enable the country to undertake developmental projects without borrowing to increase the debt levels of the country.
“No Member of Parliament can boldly say that this policy is not good because when you look at other countries around us I mean our neighbouring countries and even in Ghana here, our tax to GDP and the funds we get to run the country when estimated do not tally in terms of the ratio averagely, at least we should earn 16.5 % across the board.”
“Senegal has a population of 16.7million but the tax ratio to GDP is 16.4%, and a country like South Africa has a population of 59.3million with a tax to GDP of 26.7%, and Ghana has a population of 30.8 has a tax to GDP of 12.2% which is below the average standard which is very bad. In Ghana here with a population of over 30million, only a few people pay tax which is 2.4 % which is not good. The development of every country depends on taxation or tax to GDP.”
He added, “we need to raise a lot of revenue internally to run the country so we need not beg anybody to pay tax, it is incumbent on every Member of Parliament to rally behind this noble initiative and help pass the E-Levy. We need money to run the country, construct roads, build hospitals, for cyber security to address issues of fraud and hacking, so we the MP’s in Parliament it is our collective responsibility towards the passing of this E- Levy. So this means that we have to mobilise more resources to help the country, which necessarily does not have to be in the form of borrowing because when we borrow our credit rating also rises and we become indebted.”
BY Daniel Bampoe