Former President John Mahama has stated that if his party wins the general elections in 2024, the Electronic Transfer Levy will be abolished (E-Levy).
According to Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (NPP), former president John Mahama has a dismal track record of reversing measures launched by the ruling New Patriotic Party.
His remark comes after Mahama stated that if the NDC wins power in 2024, the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) would be repealed.
On Tuesday, he told the Asaase Breakfast Show, “I just want to remind Ghanaians that the last time the NDC and Mahama made a similar declaration was when the communication service tax was implemented” (3 May).
On the same Tuesday, on the Asaase Breakfast Show with Philip Asiawo (3 May), “He [Mahama] argued in Parliament that the cost of internet and talk time would increase by 8%, and then joined the late Prof Atta Mills as his running mate to make a pledge that they would repeal the communication service tax,” he said.
“When they came into power, they increased the rate,” he continued. So, I believe there is a clear track record, and no one should be deterred by some of these comments; the Ghanaian economy is in good hands, and the 2017 to 2019 window clearly demonstrates that the NPP and the Akufo-Addo administration had the competencies to get the Ghanaian economy back on track.
The E-Levy Act will be repealed by the next NDC government.
Former Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has stated as much. Although the NDC is not opposed to additional taxes, Mahama claims that “burdensome levies like the E-Levy” will not be tolerated.
“We in the NDC do not oppose taxation as a principle,” Mahama stated in a speech on Monday (2 May) titled “Ghana at a Crossroad.” We shall not be arrogant and use imaginative phrases to attack the notion of taxation, as the NPP did previously. However, we are adamantly opposed to taxation that is both distortive and oppressive, such as the E-Levy, because it just adds to Ghanaians’ suffering.
“The E-Levy Act will be repealed by a new National Democratic Congress government in 2025, God willing and with the votes of the sovereign people of Ghana,” he stated.
The NDC called the Akufo-Addo government’s implementation of an “unpopular” tax on a day designed to honor employees’ hard work and battling spirit “cruel” and “insensitive.”
The NDC party’s national chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, said in a statement that alleviating Ghanaians’ suffering will be a top priority.
“We believe the Akufo-Addo government’s decision to impose the controversial E-Levy tax on Ghanaians on May Day is particularly harsh and a disrespect to the sensitivities of all Ghanaians.” Based on all of the polls performed on the subject, we know that around 85 percent of Ghanaians oppose this outrageous tax. We now have a government that has not only lost its way but is also indifferent to the plight of Ghana’s people.
As we join all workers in commemorating this auspicious day, “we want to tell them that once the NDC takes power in January 2025, the pains and sorrows of Ghana’s workers will have our undivided attention.”
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