General News of Thursday, 12 December 2019
Source: primenewsghana.com
2019-12-12
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is blaming the government for contributing to the hikes in the cost of internet data in Ghana.
The NDC in a press conference today December 12, 2019, which was addressed by Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram Sam George said prior to the 50% increase in the CST tax consumers were not complaining but as soon as government introduced the 50% this made telecommunication companies also adjust their charges and that led to the upfront deduction.
He said once the government directed the telcos to stop the upfront deduction, data runs faster without the knowledge of the consumer because telcos have also increased their charges and the deduction is done at the blind side of the consumer.
This he says the blame should be laid at the doorstep of the government and not the telcos.
“The future of the communication space looks bleak under the NPP, we are calling on President Akufo-Addo to immediately withdraw the 50% increase in CST, the trade of non-expiry of data and tariff increases has disadvantaged the Ghanaian more. President Akufo-Addo must save our data now, he must stop raiding our pocket for private gains, his own people said ‘One bad term deserves an exit’ so we can’t give him another four years”
The Communication Service Tax which was introduced in 2008 was pegged at a rate of 6 percent payable by consumers of certain electronic communication services — but the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta in his mid-year budget announced a 50 percent increment in the CST rate.
There has been a recent increased in data charges by the telecommunication companies ever since they were directed by the government to stop the upfront deduction.
This development has not gone down well with most of the customers. This forced some Ghanaians to launch the #SaveOurData campaign on social media.
Some Ghanaians have even promised to hit the streets to protest the increased data charges by the Telecommunication companies if something is not done about the issue.
