NPP Communications Director, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, addresses the press
The Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoa, yesterday described the NDC’s opposition to the government’s proposed Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) as an attempt to ditch the government in its efforts at raising revenue to transform the nation.
He therefore called on the general public to embrace objectivity in discussing the novel E-Levy tax regime, and support government in its implementation.
The NDC, he explained, is keen on seeing Ghana deteriorate, instead of moving forward and generating initiatives that would radically transform the economy and improve lives and livelihoods.
“The NDC wants to go to the IMF and neutralise all the hard work of the past five years. The NPP wants to partner Ghana to consolidate the process of growth from within in order to free us from the slavery of imposed restrictions, excessive debt servicing, inadequate infrastructure and narrow job markets,” he said when he addressed the media.
According to the NPP Communications Director, the Akufo-Addo government will achieve this objective by devising plans such as increasing revenue, cutting waste and managing debt.
He pointed out that these are the standard IMF prescriptions, adding that the NPP would invest the receipts from the E-Levy in generating employment, building roads and investing in the digital space.
He urged Ghanaians not to be deceived by former President John Mahama’s current comments through which he seeks to portray himself as someone good at managing the economy.
Mini Senchi
He recalled how NDC’s Senchi forum, proposed by Mahama, led to employment freeze and limited investments.
“Ghana has a relationship with the IMF. The Article IV Consultative process already directs Ghana quite effectively, without having to undergo a programme that would cut off significant investments in human capital, skills and employment,” he stated.
He added: “Indeed, the summary of the 2021 consultation, released on July 23, 2021, is very instructive about our current state. If the former President cares to read, Ghana has been hit hard by the pandemic. The Government’s proactive response helped contain the spread of Covid-19, protecting lives and limiting the impact on economic activity. However, partly because of the pandemic, the fiscal position worsened considerably last year, with a sharp increase in public sector debt”.
On the international scene, he revealed that the NPP government is spearheading advocacy towards review of the international financial architecture, adding that the core duty of the IMF is to monitor the economies of its 190 member countries for risks and propose remedies.
Desperate
“NDC wants to make the government artificially unpopular and thereby lose political power to the NDC, even if it means shredding the credibility of Ghana abroad. We cannot forget the desperate measures used by the NDC in the Seventh Parliament in blatant attempts to sabotage the fortunes of a country the affairs of which they left in tatters,” he said.
He also recalled that when the NPP government issued a $2.3 billion bond in April 2017, as part of urgent steps to re-profile the threatening debt bequeathed to the country by the Mahama government, the NDC Minority in Parliament wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission of the USA seeking to scupper the bond issue.
“They also went to CHRAJ, all in an attempt to undermine the efforts of the government to manage the debt overhang. In August 2018, after Parliamentary approval in July 2018, the NDC wrote to the IMF and the World Bank to try to stop the novel SynoHydro bauxite barter agreement brokered by H.E the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
“The SynoHydro agreement would fund much needed infrastructure, especially in the northern parts of the country in exchange for refined alumina. Inherent in the deal was the realisation of the long elusive national desire to establish a bauxite refinery in Ghana,” he noted.
About The Author
