Ben Ephson
The Managing Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson, has suggested that the fear of the government’s proposed Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) retaining the NPP in power in 2024 could be the factor pushing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to kick against its implementation.
Speaking in an interview on Star FM, he said the extent to which the opposition NDC is resisting the passage of the bill is baffling.
“I’m tempted to believe that the NDC suspects that with the benefits of E-Levy, Ghanaians will say that ‘things like roads and schools have become better so I will vote for the NPP when I go to the polls in 2024’. The way the E-Levy is structured, in two and a half years’ time, the NPP are going to show Ghanaians what they used the E-Levy for,” he stated.
The renowned pollster added: “The NDC is being hypocritical. If the E-Levy is not good, and it will make people poorer, if I’m an NDC strategist, I will say: ‘let them pass it and I will use the harsh effect to campaign against NPP to lose elections.’ Are you saying you love NPP than yourselves? It’s a lie. For NDC’s Bagbin to say if NPP passes E-Levy they will lose, then allow them to lose.”
“We’ve got two more years to elections; they know if E-Levy is passed, NPP will get money for development, otherwise I don’t understand their resistance,” he said.
The comment comes on the back of the clergy’s visit to former President John Mahama to reportedly, among other things, appeal to him and NDC MPs to help government pass the controversial bill.
Impacts of E-Levy
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, Michael Okyere Baafi, during an interaction with market women and taxi drivers on the E-Levy in Koforidua on Monday, asked Ghanaians to change their mobile network, if they want to reduce the impact of the E-Levy, if it is passed.
“You are the one who pays the levy. So, for instance, if you are sending GH¢200 to your child at OPASS, you won’t pay tax on the first GH¢100; so the first GH¢100 is free. The GH¢100 left is what you will pay the E-Levy on. The one sending is the one who will pay the levy. Your child who is receiving will not pay anything. The telecommunication companies in Ghana are many. We have MTN, Vodafone and AirtelTigo. For MTN, they charge, Vodafone doesn’t charge, so if you think MTN is charging too much, just migrate to Vodafone,” the MP pointed out.
The MP had also warned that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could ask government to cancel Free Senior High School policy, as part of the conditionalities, should Ghana run to the Bretton Wood institution for support.
“If we don’t pay the E-Levy and we go to the World Bank or the IMF for loans, they will ask Akufo-Addo to cancel the Free SHS, which will affect your children so you must all accept the E-Levy and pay it, so it helps all of us,” Okyere Baafi told members of his constituency.
The E-Levy has given the NDC sleepless nights since it was mooted, with various modes of resistance having been embarked upon to date.
The last open resistance took the form of a demonstration in the streets of Accra, dubbed “Yentua demo” during which the leadership of the NDC stated that they would not allow the bill to be passed.
Additionally, on Friday, the Ghana Police Service arrested a convener of the #FixTheCountry, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, for allegedly threatening to stage a coup in the country.
He is alleged to have made the comment on social media, where he claimed the “Army is useless”, warning that he would personally overthrow the constitutional government if Parliament passed the controversial E-Levy Bill.
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