2022 Budget indicates the Government is Sensitive to the plights of Ghanaians – Ben Afful

The Founder and Proprietor for Stars of Africa Montessori Academy, who also doubles as a tutor at the Presbyterian Senior High School in Brekum, a Businessman and a financier of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Tain, in the Bono Region, Afful Manu Benjamin, has argued that “the 2022 budget shows that the Akufo-Addo government is in tune with the realities of Ghanaians, and he is ready to curb them”.

In an interview with ghananewsonline.com.gh, the private businessman noted that the budget identifies and addresses the challenges the country is facing, including unemployment and high cost of living.

“I had hoped that the terrible state of the economy will compel the government to propose policies in the budget to address the most pressing concerns of unsustainable debts, high cost of living, fiscal indiscipline, unemployment and misuse of public resources and that is exactly what the Akufo-Addo government has shown to have solutions to these problems in the budget. This budget will be responsive to the most important issues affecting the economy and the people of Ghana, especially on corruption in 2022,” he noted.

There has been mixed reactions among members of the Ghanaian public following  the reading of the budget last week by the finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta who announced among others the abolishment of road tolls and the subsequent introduction of a 1.75% tax on all digital financial transactions.

According to Afful, there are other challenges the Memebrs of the Minority Group in Parliament have with the budget and will challenge the proposals in the budget during the debate before the House, but their challenges would never change anything in the budget, concerning the introduction of the 1.75% tax on electronic transactions.

“These allocations in the budget will be difficult for some Ghanaians to understand but that will help the government to adjust the betterment of the economy, thus to widen the tax net so that those who were not paying taxes could pay, hence the introduction of the 1.75% of the E-levy,” he explained.

He appealed to the business women and men operating around the tollbooths who are crying of losing their jobs to bear in mind that they have created an environment of marketing, so they should not be discouraged.

By William Dei Gyau