Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, has addressed recent allegations that the government promised that the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) would fix all of Ghana’s economic issues.
He denied such claims and emphasized that the E-Levy was created especially to raise money for particular areas of the nation’s economy.
In a recent interview with Oyerepa TV, the Minister clarified that it was absurd to say that Ghana’s issues would all be solved by the E-Levy because the expected money from the tax would only cover a small portion of Ghana’s overall revenue requirements.
He also emphasized that the government did not suggest that the E-Levy would be a magic bullet for all of Ghana’s problems when arguing for its adoption, but rather made clear what the levy’s proceeds would be utilized for.
The Minister noted that, if correctly implemented, the E-Levy was expected to generate about GHC6 billion in income. The E-Levy money would not, however, be sufficient to address every issue facing Ghana, whose overall budget is more than GHC130 billion.
The E-Levy is not even generating the anticipated money, according to Oppong Nkrumah, the member of parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, because of the fierce opposition it faced before becoming legislation.