Just Drag It

Just drag it; if it's an e-levy tax proposal you believe is unpopular with the public. Create the lies, as many and in dastardly attacks, that you can manufacture and smear the bill, without restraint. For therein lies your chance to return to government to resume your create, loot and share thieving. So be relentless; because it's a golden chance of deceit as a path to control of the motherland cash, bauxite deposits, and other resources.

That has been the congress position since the introduction of the e-levy bill. Its fold has been 'unmatriotically' lying; tactically pushing the dragging to impede the advancement of the motherland. They continue to find enough material to poison e-levy as the process gets dragged; piling up the lies, and hoping it will all become a big advantage.

Their two prong pincers or pliers (more tongs for the explosive nature of the issue or situation) approach of a vice strategy, seeks pushing from both ends. Kill by pulling the tax revenue, while pushing demand in wage increase. They hope the two ends will close in to press and squeeze to squash or crush what's in between them, the government and the people.

Just demonise e-levy; trash it; kill it; do whatever to ensure it doesn't happen. Of course, if, by some 'misfortune' the government gets it passed, congress is ever ready to enjoy in salary, allowances and bribe for passing bills that would be realised out of it. Congress will happily create, loot and share whenever and wherever they discover an opportunity to exploit revenue from a passed e-levy. I hear them say to each other: 'the bribe to pass, we'll take it. In fact, let's force them to bribe.'

To them, dragging passing the e-levy into law works to deepen internalisation of dislike for the bill by my compatriots, while, at the same time, creating opportunities for deflecting their own support for it. If you doubt that congress support for e-levy, please check paragraph 8.7(c)of their 2020 manifesto.

Congresspeople hope for, and rejoice at, hearing things such as: 'pass at all cost' from the proponents of the measure. Then they'll respond: 'We'll resist to the end.' They think things like that deepen the people's resentment against the bill. 'We'll have none of passing it; but we still want GH¢72 billion out of what you collect if you use your majority to pass it,' their spokesperson had said.

No doubt, there are congresspeople thieves who are playing on the intelligence of my compatriots, repeatedly lying about e-levy being evil, while hoping to turn round one day to say citizen Ghana is discerning; for believing in their lie!

Fake it: when you don't have facts; when it hurts your opponent, when it will cover up your misdeeds and when it will make you look good. You don't need to think any ideas, neither do you need to have any plans for developing the motherland. For as long as faking it will successfully turn attention away from your incompetence and lack of ideas and knowledge, fake it.

I would want to believe motherlands progress by not just growing but also developing. They grow to develop. So, for example, a government knows what the wage bill is and finds money to meet that obligation. I want to believe also that the government's wage bill has grown phenomenally since 2017.

Thousands of academic and non-academic staff have been added to the list of government employees with the expansion of public research universities to 15 and the creation of some eight or so technical universities. Greater recruitment numbers in teaching and non-teaching employees have occurred with pre-university institutions.

Recruitment has gone on in other sectors, especially, health where doctors, nurses and others have been recruited. For years, the newly qualified had been ignored, imposed on the motherland by IMF conditionality of no government employment. That was until 2017, when the motherland unshackled herself from the IMF and by which employment action thousands have been added to the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) public payroll.

With that hike in public expenditure, government must up its revenue collection, including e-levy, to be able to pay salaries regularly. This is where I think the public must know how many have been employed and what it is adding to the wage bill. To keep employing and ensure regular payment of salaries of the employed, as is the e-levy way, must be weighed against the congress pre-2017 practice of not employing so the employed can be paid.

Craftily, they are silent on their chop chop of GYEEDA, SADA runaway nkɔnfɛm, SUBA, Brazilian embraer, and other acts of stealing public funds and how that has created anti-tax feelings among my compatriots. The public hasn't forgotten those congress free range nyafunyafu chops, a memory that has been fueling unwillingness among citizens to pay taxes.

After the chop chop till only dompe (bone) was left, they ran to the IMF which then clamped its yoke of underdevelopment around the motherland's neck. It's the only economic development plan congresspeople know and practice.

Congress wishes, and is pushing, that we go back to the IMF so that there'll be no job placements for newly trained teachers (at what level), nurses, doctors, or any other category of job seekers. Effectively, congress is happy with no new employment in the civil and public services, for any out of all the graduates from nursing and teacher colleges, universities or of any other training institutions. But they should be allowed to chop chop even if it means seeking presidency jobs to buy parliamentary seats to enjoy all the perks.

As for me, that is why I never could, or would have ever aspired to be president. Because, my solution would have been to cut salaries of Article 71 (excluding the judiciary) beneficiaries by 10%. The slash must include the legislature. I am sure that could pay others in the public service. Something tells me it would force government and those who are expected to oversee government expenditure, especially the legislators, to cut waste in their chop chop and ensure value for money in public spending.

By Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh