E-Levy hasn’t failed; going to IMF was a hasty decision – Prof Gyampo

A political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo has described as hasty, the government’s decision to go the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

According to the General Secretary of the UTAG-UG chapter, the government ought to have critically assessed the performance of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) before proceeding to the IMF.

Speaking on Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, Dr Gyampo argued that government should have known that the implementation of the E-Levy would suffer some setbacks due to the level of opposition that greeted the proposal.

He however insisted that with time Ghanaians would have begun appreciating the use of the levy and added that the real benefits of the levy would have materialised after 6 months.

“I don’t think the E-Levy has failed. We should have given ourselves like 6 months to properly assess the performance of the levy before proceeding to IMF. I don’t understand why the government would go to the IMF. Less than 2 months into the implementation of the E-Levy you are going to the IMF. This is an indication that the implementation of the levy was not well thought through. The decision is too hasty,” he told Morning Show host, Kwesi Parker-Wilson.

Prof Gyampo also warned that the country would be “ungovernable” if the government accepts any IMF conditionality that freezes wage increment saying University Teachers across the country will begin to mount a series of agitation in protest against any conditionalities that will deny Public sector workers increments in their salaries and improved living conditions.