A former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, has taken a dig at the governing New Patriotic Party following the passage of the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy).
According to him, the government’s decision to pass the unpopular levy despite wise counsel from economists such as himself means President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration is not a listening government.
Lamenting on his Facebook wall the morning after the e-levy was passed, Dr. Duffuor said, “The NPP has progressed in their passage of the unpopular e-levy bill. May it be on record that despite the hardship of the Ghanaian people and disaffection for the e-levy, the NPP ignored these concerns and added to our tax burden.”
Many Ghanaians have openly kicked against the E-levy, which was passed by the majority of Parliament on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, despite a walkout by the Minority Caucus.
Just like many well-meaning and experienced economic specialists, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has, in the past, offered several suggestions on alternatives to the E-levy.
Dr. Duffuor had in an interview on Starr FM in February 2022, ahead of the IFS’s forum on domestic revenue mobilization, said, “Currently in Ghana, foreign interests are largely the main beneficiaries of our extractive sector at the expense of Ghanaians who benefit from very little revenue from our natural resources”.
He also added “we must start looking at the sector we have ignored over the years – the extractive sector. A well-managed natural resources centre has emerged as the safest route to prosperity in many developed countries such as the USA, UK, and Germany. We must go back and renegotiate our mining agreements for higher revenues rather than stick to colonial agreements to the detriment of our people”.
