Scores of Ghanaians yesterday hit the streets of Accra to demonstrate against the proposed Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).
Amidst dancing and singing, the participants, numbering hundreds, marched through some principal streets from the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, through Adabraka, the Accra Central Business District (CBD), Tema Station, among others to also protest against the four-week long industrial strike by members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).
Clad in red and black attire, they held placards with various inscriptions, including “Pay UTAG. Students are suffering,” “Where are the jobs for the youth”, “Akufo-Addo unemployment is skyrocketing”, “Bawumia the cedi has escaped your cells.Fix the cedi depreciation now,” and “Four more but we have cried more.”
Among the participants were stalwarts of the NDC, including Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, National Chairman, John Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary, Sam George, Member of Parliament (MP) of Ningo Prampram Constituency, and George Opare Addo, National Youth Organiser.
Other participants were the Justice for Ghana, a civil society group, Concerned Drivers Association of Ghana, and the Coalition of Concerned University Students.
The protesters marched to the Parliament House where organisers of the demonstration, Coalition of Concerned Ghanaians (CCG), presented a petition to register its displeasure with the proposed E-Levy.
Presenting the petition, the leader of the coalition, Mr Addo, noted that it was unfortunate that Ghanaians would be made to pay “draconian tax” in the face of hardships and the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and individuals.
In this regard, he said it was necessary for government to reduce its expenditure, saying that “the luxurious living style of the government officials, including parliamentarians cannot be funded by the taxes of Ghanaians.”
He reiterated the need for a cut in the remunerations of public officials to reduce the burden on government.
Mr Addo urged the minority in parliament to keep to their stance and refuse the implementation of the E-Levy.
The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, who received the petition on behalf of the House and the Speaker indicated that the minority was not ready to accept the current component of the E-Levy as it was a kind to “thievery from Ghanaians.”
He said the current state was contradictory and if well-studied showed that Ghanaians would be paying 3.5 per cent E-Levy.
Mr Iddrisu reiterated the minority’s stance, stressing that “what is before parliament is technically incompetent, we are and we must all stand against the E-Levy.”
In an earlier interview, Mr Nketia said the party would abolish the E-Levy if the government approved its implementation when it assumed power.
Describing the E-Levy as a “daylight robbery,” he said its introduction was not to better the welfare of Ghanaians but it was rather designed to rob them of their hard earned monies.
“It is not taxation, it is daylight robbery. Taking people’s capital from their pockets.We will abolish it within the first 100 days when we assume power,” he stated.
He said the NDC was not against taxation but was opposed to initiatives that would worsen the plights of Ghanaians.
“We are not against taxation. Taxation is for value addition. But we will not sit and watch the government rob us. The alternatives are there,” Mr Nketia stated.
The NDC and the Minority in Parliament, he said, would intensify checks and balances on the government if it continued to act with impunity.
The Coalition of Concerned University Studentsbeseeched the government to reach an agreement with UTAG in order for them to go back to their classrooms.
BY ABIGAIL ARTHUR & ANITA ANKRAH
