Razak Kojo Opoku, President of CVM
It has been reiterated that the Akufo-Addo government’s philosophy of moving Ghana from taxation to production is still very much alive, even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. To this end, the government’s industrialization drive under the ‘One District, One Factory’ has seen 232 targeted factories at various stages of completion.
“This is a focused government and our beautiful ‘Production Theory’ proposed by Dr Bawumia in opposition still holds and in full implementation to drive the economy of Ghana,” a statement signed by founder and president of CVM, Razak Kojo Opoku, said.
CVM was responding to claims by the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, that the NPP has resorted to taxing the people instead of living to its ‘from taxation to production’ mantra.
Taxes verses borrowing
According to Mr Kojo Opoku, the new taxes introduced by the government are better than “the reckless borrowing spree” during the Mahama era.
According to him, the year 2020 presented scaring effects on the global economy after the novel Covid-19.
“Scarier spectacle was captured by the African Union recent report on the impact of Covd-19 on the continent’s economy. It simply reports that the continent could lose up to $500 billion.
“The report further stresses that countries here, under this circumstance, would be forced to borrow heavily in order to survive after the pandemic,” he said.
“Globally, countries in recent times have borrowed at a breakneck pace. In effect, the Covid-19 has added close to $20 trillion to the global debt,” he added.
To this end, he noted that the government had the option of either going on a borrowing spree or raising funds locally.
“So, in the language of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia’s government, let’s look at what we can do domestically to support and build our economy.
“Locally, we can develop more pragmatic means to ensure our economy is still robust, a complete departure from reckless Mahama’s government borrowing spree,” he explained.
Achievement
He further listed some achievement of the government within the last four years, explaining, for instance, that “under the Planting for Food and Jobs, farmers’ access to production inputs increased to 1.4 million and over 1.7 million farmers benefited from subsidised fertiliser.”
“The GH¢750 million Coronavirus Alleviation Programme – Business Support Scheme (CAP-BuSS) is another laudable initiative by the government to ensure business survives around this extra ordinary times.
“Simply, Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government is not taking from Ghanaians, but adding and supporting to transform their livelihoods,” he said
“The plight of the ordinary Ghanaian is a major concern to the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government. This is why the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission (PURC) has not increased utility tariff, not even 0.001%,” he added.
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