The Minority Group in Parliament has reiterated its position to reject in plan and principle the Electronic Transactional Levy (E-levy) proposed in the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy. The Member of Parliament for Builsa South Dr. Clement Apaak said the position of the Minority is non-negotiable and added that it will ‘fight’ for nothing short of a total rejection of the proposed levy.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East, the Legislator explained that while the Minority admits the need for taxes to develop, the government’s request for the already economically burdened Ghanaians to pay more in the form of taxes is unjustified because of the wastage of public funds and revenues it raised in the past year.
“Are you aware that this government had at its disposal over 40 billion GHC just to work on this issue of COVID-19. To think that as you [Samuel Mbura, Host of A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East show] and I are speaking, they will come to and be asking for Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] when as you indicated 32 million GHC was used for conferences and 40 billion GHC has supposedly be expended over COVID-19, clearly we cannot be faulted to ask for accountability. That cannot be the proper way of expending our resources,” he lamented.
He went on to say that as the processes of Budget Appropriations continue in Parliament, the Minority will continue to expose government’s wanton dissipation of public funds.
“These will clearly justify the reason why the Minority will say that government has not been using the resources we allocated to it in 2021 judiciously. If those monies cannot be accounted for, we do not see the need for the e-levy to be collected. Even in the area of education, the amount of money that cannot be accounted for, when we put them in the public domain, very soon, Ghanaians will be shocked,” he said.
Meanwhile, Parliament is still unsure about when it will adjourn sittings for the Christmas break. The situation is as a result of current differences between the Majority and Minority groups in Parliament over the approval of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy as well as the conduct of the First Deputy Speaker and MP for Bekwai Joseph Osei Owusu in the absence of the Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kinsford Bagbin.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East, the Member of Parliament for Builsa South Dr. Clement Apaak explained that the return of the Speaker to Parliament is expected to bring finality to issues raised by the Minority group in Parliament.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
