The Economic Fighters League emphatically rejects the decision by the intention of the government to increase road tolls and reintroduce the compulsory towing levy. The compulsory towing levy, which the people of Ghana strongly repulsed and forced government to abort in 2017 is being smuggled in behind veils with new euphemistic excuses.
The new imposed taxes announced in the 2021 budget are already set to weigh effect on the people of Ghana from May 1, 2021. The people of Ghana are already saddled with heightening cost of construction materials, food, electricity bills, water bills, cost of domestic house rents among many other basics. As always, it is the people who have and continued to suffer most.
Ghanaians are tired of taxation without transparency and value for money. It is unintelligible and reductive for the government to seek to suggest that the introduction of more taxes or increasing the rates of existing taxes is the solution to road accidents, when the state is currently spending national funds some of the most expensive roads in Africa yet delivering some of the most poorly built roads. An increase in expenditure cannot be considered proportional to safety when national resources are constantly diverted to private hands.
We at Fighters and other well-meaning Ghanaians are skeptical of the commitment of current and/past administrations to curb road accidents and to improve road infrastructure. Our reasons are easily found in their track records of the vicious stealing from public purse as captured in the wrongfully removed Auditor-General’s reports.
We will support any serious move to recover stolen money as surcharged by the Auditor-General’s annual reports as an effort to identify the funds required to execute the stated tasks, rather than allow ourselves to be further taxed on non-delivery, another extractionary measure without transparency, accountability and value for money.
Revolutionary Regards,
Hardi Yakubu
Fighter-General