Akufo-Addo gov’t cannot be trusted to manage E-Levy funds – Banda MP

Member of Parliament (MP) for Banda Constituency, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim has said President Akufo-Addo’s government cannot be trusted to well-manage funds that will be accrued from the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) should it be approved.

According to him, the current government after taking over from the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration failed to manage the road fund, GetFund, Ghana Infrastructure Fund, as well as other government funds.

Using that as a yardstick, the Banda MP who is also the Deputy Minority Whip argues that the Minority in Parliament is right in insisting that it will not approve the controversial E-Levy in the house.

Speaking to Citi News in an interview on Friday, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim said instead of the government pushing to have the levy passed, it should rather focus on cutting down its expenditure to put the country’s economy in a good state.

“It’s like the government cannot be trusted with managing funds and therefore if you are asking me of my alternative, the alternative is that we need to sit down, cut down our expenditure,” the Banda MP said when asked to make a recommendation to the government.

Mr. Ibrahim continued, “Which of our expenditures can we cut down? How can we make judicious use of our resources to make sure that the country is able to move forward?

Today, the Minority in Parliament had a meeting with the Majority together with Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta to continue consultations on the E-Levy.

Although the Minister confirmed a reduction in the rate of the levy from 1.75% to 1.50%, the Minority rejected the proposal and made it clear that it wants the levy to be totally scrapped.

Nonetheless, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim notes that the Minority remains open to further discussions and will engage the Majority in Parliament when the levy is put on the agenda of the house.