The nationwide tour to convince Ghanaians to accept the E-Levy, has gotten the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in making public confession he would never have made about his management of the economy since 2017.
He admitted publicly that teachers and civil servants in Ghana are paid “indecent” salaries.
At a recent town hall meeting in Wa, Upper West Region, to sensitise Ghanaians to the e-levy and why the government needs it passed urgently, President Akufo-Addo’s cousin told his audience on Monday, 21 February 2022: “I look at teachers and civil servants, for example, and I will be the first to admit that the salaries are indecent; nobody will argue with that”.
“So, yes, there is a legitimate demand for more and there is a legitimate reality that there is no money”, he admitted.
“So, what do we do as a society?” he asked.
“Then, you ask me to give you more salary; which is fine. Then, I say: ‘But it is your colleague civil servants who collect the money who are not collecting the money, so, how can you, responsible for collecting the money, not collect it and then tell me to give you the money. That will be another issue”, he illustrated.
The initially proposed 1.75 per cent e-levy has now been reviewed to 1.5 per cent.
It is still in abeyance in the hung parliament, because the Minority Caucus, has refused to play ball with the Majority side to get it passed.
Last week, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, disclosed that the government may not be able to pay salaries in the next three months.
The Speaker attributes this to what he says is information at his disposal.
Making the revelation on the floor of the Parliament, the Speaker called on MPs to show leadership in these difficult times.”
“This is not to discourage the committee from doing their work. If something is not done within the next three months, the government may not be able to pay salaries.”
“So we have to take leadership. We have to do a lot of things,” he said.
His concerns came amid labour agitations for better conditions of service as well as rising costs of living, even as the government struggled to get through the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy, which it has touted as a major remedy to the country’s many financial challenges.
Ahead of the Speaker’s remarks Ken Ofori-Atta, admitted that there is no money.
He said, although demand by public sector workers for salary increment is legitimate, the government has no money at the moment to meet the demands hence efforts to generate domestic revenue.
He said “I look at teachers and civil servants for example, and I will be the first to admit that the salaries are indecent, nobody will argue with that. At the same time, it is 60 percent of all the revenue we collect from 700,000 people [go into salary payment,] that is also a fact.
“So yes, there is a legitimate demand for more and there is a legitimate reality that there is no money. So what do we do as a society? Then you ask me to give you more salary, which is fine, then I say but it is your colleague civil servant who collect the money collecting the money, so how can you responsible for collecting the money , not collect it and then tell me to give you the money. That will be another issue.”
He reiterated the need for Ghanaians to support moves by the Akufo-Addo-led government to impose a tax on electronic transactions.
Initially proposed to be pegged at 1.75 percent, the government has now reviewed the rate to 1.5 percent but the levy is still facing resistance by a section of the Ghanaian public and the Minority in Parliament.
The government has since been on a tour of the country engaging the public in what has been christened ‘Government Town hall Meeting on E-Levy’ aimed at rallying support for the proposed tax policy.
Mr. Ofori-Atta, said the government needs the money to be able to take care of critical government expenditure in addition to building infrastructure and creating jobs.
He said even though the E-Levy may not bring in a lot of money, what would be realized should be enough to support the government.
He added that had the Minority not resisted the policy, the government would have started realizing money which would have been used to pay the District Assembly Common Fund.
Source: Heraldghana