We must be masters of our own destiny- Finance Minister tells Ghanaians at second E-levy townhall meeting
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta has called on Ghanaians to join hands in becoming masters of their own destiny by helping government to close the revenue gap in the annual budgets.
Government has proposed a 1.75% levy on all electronic transfers to help reduce the country’s debts, while enabling it fund the growing demands of the Ghanaian people.
However, the E-levy has become a subject of public debate following the Minority NDC’s efforts to kick against it in Parliament.
But government officials who have been touring the country on town hall meetings by the Information Ministry say it is a way to raise revenue to help develop infrastructure, jobs and social interventions.
At the second townhall meeting at the Sekondi Takoradi Youth Hall on Wednesday February, 2, 2022, the Finance Minister argued that the time has come for Ghanaians to step up their contribution to settle all outstanding demands.
He explained that as a sovereign country, it is important for Ghana to be the master of its own destiny by mobilising more local resources to pay for the things it demands.
He said the days when Ghana looked to international partners for bail us out or fund our development agenda are over.
“We are the ones who have to mobilise our own resources to fund the development we want. Our sovereignty and dignity requires that we look inward and see how to pay up and make the Ghanaian vision a reality”, he said.
IMF
Responding to calls for government to forget the revenue effort and resort to the IMF for a bailout, MP for Sekondi and Deputy Energy Minister, Andrew Agyapa Mercer said an IMF bailout is an additional loan that will further deepen Ghana’s debt challenges and at the same time add restrictions to government’s spending in critical sectors of the economy.
He said the IMF bailout proposal being touted is not the answer to Ghana’s challenges.
He therefore called on Ghanaians to support the e-levy in order to make the dreams of Ghanaians a reality.
Source: Ghana News
