Franklin Cudjoe Writes: Three Important Issues In Ghana Today

The Author

1. This August, a total of GHS 60m in communications service tax will be paid (accrued per the contract) to KelniGVG just because they loaned TV sets to the Ministry of Communications to monitor NOTHING. No revenue addition has been recorded . We just dey pay money into a ghost account.

2.Overall, petrol prices increased by 8.6% from January to August (Gh4.56 in Jan to Gh4.95 in August) with the largest increase of 4.9% in May-June (Gh4.66 to Gh4.89). The Special Petroleum Tax (SPT) levy remains 46p/L on premium (petrol).

My energy associate at IMANI argues that the SPT can be scrapped given that:

- It was imposed to shore up revenues because crude prices were declining. Since crude price has picked up considerably, it no longer serves the purpose and can be scrapped.

-It is a tax on taxes and consequently a nuisance.
3. Can we get more details on why we are going to pay $45m for 320 housing units for police accommodation? What about on going projects? Where are we with the 1500 housing units at Saglemi? The Saglemi project is also overpriced per its location. Previous government (NDC) officials must be queried over the strange project.