Members of the pressure group, #Fixthecountry movement, were blocked from attending the Townhall meeting on the E-levy held in Koforidua on Thursday, January 27th, according to North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Mr. Ablakwa slammed the development, saying it was already bad enough.
In a tweet, he said, “Physically preventing #FixTheCountry members from attending government’s town hall is bad enough but why is the government not putting the E-Levy to a secret vote at its town halls as we did at the North Tongu non-partisan town hall?”
During the meeting, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, said that until Ghana weans itself from seeking help from other courtiers, outsiders would continue to determine the pace of the country’s growth.
In arguing for the inclusion of the E-levy in the 2022 budget statement, she said that in order for Ghana to be fully independent, domestic revenue mobilization would need to be increased in order to fund the necessary development.
Speaking at a Government Townhall meeting on the E-levy proposal in Koforidua on Thursday, January 27, Ablekuma West Member of Parliament remarked, “as long as we depend on loans, they will dictate the pace of our development.”
“We need to find the way to increase domestic revenue mobilization,” she added.
“We are talking about a Ghana beyond aid, we need to be able to finance our own development and stop the dependence on either loans or grants or aid from other countries if we are to be truly independent.”
The Townhall Meeting is part of the government’s stakeholder engagement on the E-levy proposal.
The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, informed Parliament on Tuesday, January 25, that more stakeholder talks on the proposal were underway, leading to the Business Committee’s inability to schedule it within the first week of the second session’s first session.
He said that the Business Committee wanted to schedule the proposal for discussion in the second week after the engagement.
The absence of the E-levy proposal on the Order Paper was explained by the Suame Lawmaker, who stated, “Mr. Speaker, as Honourable members will recall, the House was expected to conclude consideration and passing of the electronic transfer levy bill 2021 by the end of the third meeting for the first session.”
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, however, the House was unable to consider and pass the bill at the end of the meeting. It was therefore the contemplation of the Business Committee that the Bill will be scheduled for consideration by the House during the first week of the first meeting of the second session.
“However upon consultation with the sponsoring Minister the committee is not unable to program same for this week after the resumption.
“The Honorable Minister of Finance has been undertaking further engagement with stakeholders and sections of the general public with respect to some concerns that have been raised on the bill
“The committee, in all probability, will program the bill for consideration in the second week of this meeting and honorable members are therefore encouraged to participate fully in the consideration and the process of the passage of the bill.”
Ken Ofori Atta, Minister of Finance, justified the introduction of the E-levy.
Making the argument for the policy suggestion, he said that President Akufo-Addo has garnered worldwide recognition for the number of all-inclusive initiatives he has been able to undertake to help the nations flourish.
“We went through 2017 to 2019 with incredible stellar results as to what we, as a country have been able to achieve, moving from 3.4 percent of growth to somewhere over 7 percent, reducing our budget deficit, and then to 6.5%, moved to about 5 percent making sure that our currency does not depreciate as it used to be and quite stable.
“Also, having the necessary foreign exchange cover to make sure that we are able to support our currency and import. Again we did the impossible, spent over 14 billion cedis on education, 14 billion on health care, 14.9bn on enhancing our internal security and it comes as what we were able to do with the monies NDC assured we will never be able to get.
“So, the benefits have been for all of us, all-inclusive growth in which about 1.26 million children have benefited from free SHS, 3.45million covered by school feeding program, NADCO 100,000 young persons, the largest in our history and over 334 households are given lifeline under the LEAP program. so, for us, the sovereignty of our people is clear everybody as a citizen has a part in this enterprise of this idea of a Ghana that is confident, prosperous.
“Our president has also earned incredible international repute and our own Ghanaian walk outside, even here, NDC or NPP, their heads are high because they know that Akufo-Addo has done it.
“We have to continue these initiatives but the challenge is, where do we get the resources to be able to do this. Traditionally, when you are caught in such a thing you increase petrol and we know the effect it has on all of us.”
Read Also: There’ll be an economic disaster if E-levy fails to go through – Ken Ofori-Atta
SOURCE: 3NEWS
