Deputy Minister for Energy who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, has in response to calls that government should forget the revenue effort and go the IMF instead for a bailout, argued that an IMF bailout is an additional loan that would further deepen Ghana’s debt challenges and at the same time add restrictions to Government spending in critical sectors of the economy.
He said the IMF bailout proposal being touted is not the answer to Ghana’s challenges. He called on Ghanaians to support the e-levy in order to make the dreams of the people of Ghana a reality.
The second government town hall meeting on the proposed electronic levy came off last Tuesday, 2nd February 2022, in Sekondi in the Western Region, with Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta-led government delegation explaining and answering questions on various the concerns about the proposal.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Ofori Atta called on Ghanaians to join hands in becoming “masters of our own destiny” by helping Government close the revenue gap in the annual budgets.
Government has proposed an electronic levy of 1.75% of transfers to help reduce the country’s debt and deficit while enabling it fund the growing demands of the Ghanaian people.
The e-levy has become the subject of public debate following the Minority NDCs efforts to disapprove of it in parliament. But Government officials who have been touring the country for town hall meetings organized by the Ministry of Information say it is the way to raise revenue to help develop infrastructure, jobs and social interventions.
The finance minister argued that the time has come for Ghanaians to step up our contribution towards paying for the demands we make. He explained that as a sovereign country, it is important for Ghana to be the master of its own destiny by mobilizing more local resources to pay for the things we demand.
He said the days when Ghana looked to international partners to bail us out or fund our development agenda are over and that “We are the ones who have to mobilize our own resources to fund the development we want. Our sovereignty and dignity require that we look inward and see how to pay up and make the Ghanaian vision a reality,” he said.
Other officials who spoke at the town hall included the Western Regional Minister Hon Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Central Regional Minister Hon Justina Marigold Assan and the Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
