By Adu Koranteng
The Member of Parliament for Dormaa East Constituency, Paul Twum Barimah, has advised the leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), to think and come out with alternative ideas that would help in promoting governance and economic management and stop making empty noises.
He said since the introduction of the 2022 budget and policy statement of government for parliamentary approval, the NDC has been making empty noises without proffering any alternatives which is worrying.
The MP argued that a party in opposition should have the capacity to think and come out with ideas that government could consider saying, “What is happening in NDC is that they keep making noise without providing alternatives to government policies and programs that are being implemented. This is worrying especially for a party in opposition.”
Honourable Paul Twum Barimah assured that the NPP is focused on its objectives and would not be swayed or distracted by the noise by the opposition and “Government is focused on providing the best policies and programs for the people of Ghana and working to ensure that their living conditions are improved. The noise being made by the NDC will not shift that attention of government and NDC will fail in the process.”
Paul Twum Barimah’s statement is in reaction to the statement made by the NDC executives at a press conference some time ago.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) at its press conference said it is not against taxation, but would not accept the electronic levy.
Speaking at a forum organised by the biggest opposition party on the 2022 budget, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said: “Since we started attacking this budget, there’s been a misconception that NDC is against taxation and the propaganda has gone on to even indicate that we are nation wreckers: if we are not supporting taxation, how else do we intend to develop this nation?”
“I want to let everybody know that NDC is not against taxation. Indeed, our philosophy is based on taxation”, he told the forum, adding: “We believe in redistributive justice and taxation is a means of achieving redistribution of wealth in the country”.
He explained: “Our philosophy is hinged on the belief that once we have come together to live in one society … we believe that there must be taxation and our principle of taxation is: each according to his means”.
“So, those who have bigger means will pay more than those who don’t have”, he noted.
“So, while we are supportive of taxation, we are very conscious about what type of taxation and how that taxation is implemented”, he stated.
“So, I want to debunk the assertion that NDC is against taxation”, noting: “In fact, when we come back to power, we’ll continue to use taxation but we’ll use taxation in a manner that we’ll achieve the objectives that we have set onto ourselves”.
Interestinly, Asiedu Nketia could not provide the alternative. He could not explain what manner of taxation that would achieve their objectives.
