The second government town hall meeting on the proposed electronic levy has ended in Sekondi in the Western Region on Tuesday 2nd February 2022.
A government delegation led by Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta took the time to explain and answered questions on various concerns about the proposal.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Ofori Atta called on Ghanaians to join hands in becoming “masters of our own destiny” by helping Government close the revenue gap in the annual budgets.
Government has proposed an electronic levy of 1.75% of transfers to help reduce the country’s debt and deficit while enabling it to fund the growing demands of the Ghanaian people.
The e-levy has become the subject of public debate following the Minority NDCs efforts to disapprove of it in parliament. But Government officials who have been touring the country for town hall meetings organized by the Ministry of Information say it is the way to raise revenue to help develop infrastructure, jobs and social interventions.
The finance minister argued that the time has come for Ghanaians to step up our contribution towards paying for the demands we make. He explained that as a sovereign country, it is important for Ghana to be the master of its own destiny by mobilizing more local resources to pay for the things we demand.
He said the days when Ghana looked to international partners to bail us out or fund our development agenda are over. “We are the ones who have to mobilize our own resources to fund the development we want. Our sovereignty and dignity require that we look inward and see how to pay up and make the Ghanaian vision a reality.” He said.
IMF
Meanwhile, Hon Andrew Mercer, MP for Sekondi and Deputy Minister for Energy responding to calls that government should forget the revenue effort and instead go the IMF for a bailout, said an IMF bailout is an additional loan that will further deepen Ghana’s debt challenges and at the same time add restrictions to Government spending in critical sectors of the economy.
He said the IMF bailout proposal being touted is not the answer to Ghana’s challenges. He called on Ghanaians to support the e-levy in order to make the dreams of the people of Ghana a reality.
Other officials who spoke at the town hall include the Western Regional Minister Hon Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Central Regional Minister Hon Justina Marigold Assan and the Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
