The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has taken a swipe at President Akufo-Addo over his response to the opposition to the proposed E-Levy.
Dr. Apaak in mincing no words described the President as someone who is incentive to the plight of Ghanaians.
To him, the President should rather listen to the people and drop the obnoxious E-Levy since it would destroy businesses.
President Akufo-Addo has reiterated his government will pass the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy). despite the ”unnecessary” opposition
According to him, the government in its bid to lessen the burden on Ghanaians during the heat of the COVID-19 did some expenditure, and that has become necessary for some measures to be put in place to fill those gaps created.
“Revenues during 2020/2021 went down considerably because of the slowing down of the economic activities that came from the COVID-19. At the same time, government, in order to keep the country going, did incur some expenditures on the free water, the free electricity. These were the unavoidable expenses that government had to make,” President Akufo-Addo disclosed when addressing traditional leaders from Dzodze in the Volta region on Tuesday, 1st February 2022.
“These are the efforts that we are now making which are being resisted by the opposition but we will try and close the gap. That is the reason it has become necessary for us to use these measures like this famous tax which has caused so much unnecessary disputation; nevertheless, we would continue.”
Dr. Apaak in responding slammed the President and accused him of being interested in expensive travels and lavish spending.
He said the President should rather cut down on his expenditure, deal with corruption and drop the levy.
He also disclosed that no amount of intimidation from the government will make the Minority change its position on the levy.
“The 137 MPs on the side of the Minority will continue to vote against the levy no matter the use of intimidation by the government.
Why does the President think that it is okay to disregard the concerns of Ghanaians? He is interested in hiring a private jet for 14,000 pounds per hour and flying abroad and does not want Ghanaians to talk about it. He has failed to account for it. And yet, he wants Ghanaians to pay for an outrageous tax which they have rejected because it is not justified.”
”Ghanaians have asked you to be accountable. They want you to cut down on expenditure, but you have refused to listen. But you have decided to introduce a levy that will lead to financial exclusion and telling us that it is unnecessary to oppose the levy”.
”It is untrue that the government has bribed us to accept the levy. That is false. We remain opposed to the levy. We have rejected the levy, and our Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu was the one who first told Ghanaians that the government had planned to introduce an electronic levy. We have not accepted a bribe to accept the levy and nobody can bribe us to accept the levy.”
”Nobody can intimidate us. Nobody can influence us. We are resolute in our own interest, in the interest of Ghanaians, in the interest of our constituents. We will continue to vote 137 NO against this obnoxious levy,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
