As the world commemorates the International Day of the Gild Child today, the Safe Menstruation Movement (SAMMO), a not-for-profit organization has reiterated its call for government to scrap the 20 percent tax on sanitary products with the explanation that it creates socio-economic barriers and impedes the wellbeing of the girl child.
Currently, disposable sanitary pads attract an import tax of 20 percent and a value-added tax of 12.5 percent in Ghana.
The current government that introduced it, a tax many people have described it as insensitive to the plight of a poor gild child, in 2020 promised to scrap it if Ghanaians renew the NPP’s mandate in the last election.
But the President of SAMMO, Nsobuno Paul Akumbusko in a press release copied to A1 NEWS lamented that government’s refusal to scrap the tax on sanitary pads has made the commodity expensive for “women and girls to feel empowered to manage their period safely, with confidence, and without embarrassment”.
Below is the statement
SAFE MENSTRUATION MOVEMENT (SAMMO)
PRESS RELEASE
COMMEMORATION OF 2022 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD
Safe Menstruation movement joins Ghanaians and the whole world to celebrate International Day of the Girl Child which falls on 11th October, every year, which is a global advocacy platform used to raise awareness of the challenges girls face in our societies.
The day provides an opportunity to actively advocate for basic rights of young girls.
We at SAMMO wish to use this day to raise issues concerning Menstrual Hygiene Management and period poverty. The time to break the silence has started as well as awareness raising and change of negative social norms surrounding Menstrual Hygiene around the world including Ghana. By this, women and girls can feel empowered to manage their period safely, with confidence, and without embarrassment, we should live in a world where no girl is limited by something as natural and normal as Menstruation.
To create a world where Menstruation is just a normal fact of life, we need more action and investment in Menstrual Health and Hygiene Education so that by 2030 every woman or girl would have basic knowledge about Menstruation and should be able to afford sanitary pads.
As we mark this year’s International Day of The Girl Child under the theme: OUR TIME IS NOW, OUR RIGHTS, OUR FUTURE.
We wish to call on the government to fulfill its 2020 Manifesto promise of scrapping the 20% Luxury Tax on Sanitary products and creating an enabling environment for companies to manufacture sanitary pads locally. We also call on parents to show great interest in their adolescent girl’s menstrual health and support them with Menstrual Hygiene Education and sanitary pads.
Finally, we wish to re-echo our advocacy for the removal of the Luxury Tax on sanitary pads and socio-economic barriers and which are impediments to girls’ well-being and achieving a better quality life.
SIGNED🖊️🖊️🖊️🖊️
NSOBUNO PAUL AKUMBUSKO
PRESIDENT SAMMO
0208916500/0543302111
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Bolgatanga|Ghana
