The Founder and President of Concerned Voters Movement, Mr Razak Kojo Opoku has lashed out at Members of Parliament (MPs) of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Mahama and Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin for stifling government revenue mobilisation.
In an article, Mr. Opoku averred that the intransigent stance against the passing of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) Bill by the NDC apparatchiks is a hinderance to domestic revenue collection.
“The NDC Members of Parliament and Speaker Bagbin are deliberately sabotaging Government’s business in Parliament as well as the E-levy due to the recent Supreme Court Ruling in favour of the voting rights of Deputy Speakers”, he argued.
Read the full article below:
Prior to the 2016 general elections, the then-candidate Akufo-Addo made a popular statement that “Yete Sika So Nanso Ekom De Yen” to describe the worst state of the Ghanaian economy under the incompetent leadership of John Mahama. That statement is still valid today and ignorantly John Mahama and NDC are using it to attack the government of President Akufo-Addo.
One of the greatest attributes of a good leader is the identification of sustainable financial resources anchored on a homegrown policy for national socio-economic development, and that is exactly what President Akufo-Addo in his 2022 Budget presented to Parliament for approval.
‘Yete Sika So Nanso Ekom De Yen,’ however, President Akufo-Addo has shown the Country where the ‘sika’ is through the E-levy policy but due to the sabotaging behaviour of John Mahama, Speaker Bagbin and NDC Members of Parliament, we are unable to utilize the vast financial resources in the Mobile Money industry.
The NDC Members of Parliament and Speaker Bagbin are deliberately sabotaging Government’s business in Parliament as well as the E-levy due to the recent Supreme Court Ruling in favour of the voting rights of Deputy Speakers.
One thing we need to understand is that, apart from Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) which has the capacity to generate 70-80 billion Ghana Cedis for the Country through VAT, NHIL, COVID-19 HRL, Corporate taxes, income taxes etc., which government agencies, institutions or natural resources are able to generate US$1 billion dollars annually for the Country? As it stands now certainly none.
According to the report of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Ghana earned US$6.5billion out of the total US$31billion generated from the three oil-producing fields in 10 years.
Also, as a reminder, Ghana secured US$1 billion three-year IMF loan programme in a bid to revive the economy under the Incompetent John Mahama yet the economy woefully failed to revive under John Mahama. The economy grew from bad to worse under John Mahama’s administration.
However, President Akufo-Addo true to his statement that ‘Yete Sika So Nanso Ekom De Yen’ has shown us where the money is and has equally provided an alternative homegrown policy that is sustainable in nature to help the country generate US$1 billion annually to support the economy through E-levy, an amount IMF gave to Mahama John as a loan for three years.
Through Akufo-Addo’s E-levy policy, Ghana would be generating an estimated amount of US$10billion in 10 years which far exceeds the US$6.5billion Ghana earned from the Oil resource in the last 10 years between 2011-2022.
According to the records from the Bank of Ghana, Mobile Money transactions grew by 13% to GH¢ 76.2 billion in January 2022, GH¢67. 9 billion in January 2021, GH¢82. 9 billion is December 2021. The registered Mobile Money Accounts stood at 48.4 million in January 2022 and, Mobile Money remained the biggest payment solution platform in Ghana with an estimated GH¢905. 1 billion transactions recorded in 2021.
The value of mobile money transactions in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2021 were estimated at GH¢67.1billion, GH¢67.9billion, GH¢82.3 billion, GH¢83.8 billion, GH¢86. 5 billion, GH¢89.1 billion, GH¢99.1 billion, GH¢81. 8 billion, GH¢71 billion, GH¢80 billion, GH¢86. 1 billion and GH¢82. 9 billion respectively.
Mind you, all these quantum of monies derived from the Mobile Money transactions, the Government of Ghana always get peanuts while the majority of the monies are retained by the Telecommunications Companies and interestingly these companies are foreign entities thereby transferring their profits from the Mobile Money transactions to their respective home Countries through conversion of our Cedi into dollars and as a result causing capital flight which automatically affects the depreciation of the Cedi
Now, which Ghana’s natural resources can compete with Mobile Money transactions in the Country? Absolutely none.
The revenue target of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the year 2022 is GH¢80.3 billion and sadly this is far, far below the Mobile Money transactions for the months of March, April, May, June, July, August, October, November and December 2021 respectively.
President Akufo-Addo shall forever be remembered by posterity for showing Ghana where the money is that we are sitting on and still struggling to feed our Ghanaian people largely due to the unpatriotic and unpleasant behaviour of John Mahama, Speaker Bagbin and NDC Members of Parliament to undermines the E-levy policy.
The E-Levy has directed us to the answer of ‘Yete Sika So Nanso Ekom De Yen’, and clearly, the E-levy is the best alternative homegrown policy to the usual borrowing, peanuts from our natural resources and Donor support or loan from IMF/World Bank.
