According to the Ministry of Information, the Nana Akufo-Addo government is unfazed with town hall meetings organized by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to criticize the government’s proposed electronic transaction levy.
In an interview with Eyewitness News, Fatimatu Abubakar, the Deputy Minister for Information, said that the government would continue to concentrate on public engagements on the 1.75 percent levy and seek to gain popular support.
“We are not distracted by whatever engagement the NDC is doing in opposition to this e-levy because, at the end of the day, we have the core responsibility to explain the policy to Ghanaians and also educate the public. Whatever they are doing on the other side is up to them. We are committed to ensuring that Ghanaians understand the introduction of the e-levy and what they are going to get if government is able to raise the revenue targets that we have,” she said.
On Thursday, January 27, 2022, the government held a town hall meeting in the Eastern Regional capital of Koforidua to explain why the E-levy is vital for the country’s growth and to solicit public feedback on the e-levy.
However, prior to the engagement, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), which has already stated its opposition to the E-levy, conducted a town hall meeting in the Ashanti Region to encourage Ghanaians to oppose it.
However, according to Fatimatu Abubakar, the government would continue to engage Ghanaians in different ways to persuade them to adopt the E-levy.
She said that the administration does not intend to have another town hall meeting immediately after Thursday’s event, but would instead utilize other kinds of interaction, particularly at the local level, to address the levy.
“Given the opportunity, more of these engagements will come up. Everybody deserves the opportunity to understand the issue. Continuously, we are doing different levels of engagements. We are not using only one means. The town hall is one, but other engagements will go on,” she added.
“There is nothing wrong with we engaging people now. We still want to come and explain issues to people so that when they understand it, its implementation will be easy for all. We will take all the criticisms, but we’ll make sure that Ghanaians understand this.”
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
