It was unnecessary for Dr. Bawumia to talk about e-levy at his economic lecture – Oppong Nkrumah
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said the furore over the omission of the e-levy at a recent lecture by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is unjustified.
He said the government has dealt extensively with the controversial levy prior to its passage therefore there was no need to hammer on it again.
Speaking on Accra based Citi TV, he said Dr. Bawumia is in full support of the levy though he hasn’t made any public comments on it.
“I can understand why some people want him to do an elaborate talk. But it should not be missed that his presentation was the third in the series of presentations by the government dealing with various issues, and we’ve dealt extensively with the E-levy, travelling from Takoradi, Koforidua, Wa, Ho and other places engaging the public, Parliament and using mass media platforms explaining the whys.”
“We’ve been dealing with the fact that those two principal issues, first that digitization will not be compromised by E-levy, and have responded to the second matter that deals with the poor. The Vice President himself was very instrumental in this,” said the minister.
The Vice-President is on record to have opposed any taxation on Mobile Money (MoMo) transactions, suggesting that such a move will impoverish the average Ghanaian.
Dr. Bawumia at the lecture in Kasoa said Ghanaians are currently going through hardships but the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is on track to revive the economy.
He said “The economy is what we feel in our pockets. I acknowledge that we are going through difficult times, this is the reality. Our economy is experiencing rising prices of fuel and virtually all commodities. Prices are on the rise.”
“These have come as a surprise to many Ghanaians and many questions have been asked about the state of the economy. Do these questions include what has happened to the fundamentals? Why are the prices of goods and services increasing so fast? Why has the Cedi depreciated so fast this year?” Dr. Bawumia asked.
“What programess does the government have to show for the higher debt? Where is the new economy that the government promised to build? I will address these questions based on data and facts.
“I will admit where there have been challenges and we will all leave here with a better state of the economy, where we have come from, and where we are going,” he added.
