The Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Agyapong, has alleged that some members on the Minority side of the House secretly support the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy).
“If you talk to the opposition MPs individually, some of them are in favour of it,” he said.
Despite making such remark, he went on further to rebuke the Minority for publicly opposing the levy.
“When we have opposition MPs strongly oppose the E-Levy in Parliament but also expect government to steer developmental projects in their constituencies, I’m afraid [it may not happen]”.
Speaking on GBC’s Breakfast Show on Monday, February 21, 2022, Mr. Agyapong was also unhappy that a lot of Ghanaians are against the bill.
“Isn’t it a shame that we are willing to pay 2% to MTN and other networks on Mobile money transactions but are reluctant to pay levies to see to the development of the nation? E-levy is not a policy only in Ghana, but [also] in some of the well-advanced countries. That is why we are where we are now. We will continue to be slaves in our own country because of our poor mentality.”
He was quick to add that he is not against the opinions of Ghanaians who do not support the E-levy.
“I only want us to analyse our position well and speak the truth. We have to be careful about the way we go about things,” he added.
About the e-levy
The 1.75% e-levy, now pegged at 1.5%, was announced by the government in the 2022 Budget on basic transactions related to digital payments and electronic platform transactions.
It is to apply to electronic transactions that are more than GH¢100 on a daily basis.
The government expects the levy to provide an extra GH¢6.9 billion to execute developmental projects in 2022.
According to the budget, 16.7 percent of the yield from the levy, will be used to support road infrastructure development.
Ten percent of the 0.25 percentage points, i.e. 1.67% of the yield from the levy, would be dedicated to improvements in public transportation, including the purchase of buses.
The levy is yet to be approved by Parliament, as efforts to have it passed faced some hurdles.
