The Majority Caucus in Parliament has accused the erstwhile Mahama administration of illegally granting tax exemption to cement manufacturing firm Dzata Cement.
The Caucus alleged that by executive authorization, former President John Dramani Mahama designated some firms, including Dzata Cement as strategic investors and offered them tax waivers without recourse to Parliamentary approval.
Speaking to journalists in Accra on Thursday, May 30, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin urged the Minority Caucus to support the government’s quest to industrialise the economy by offering tax exemptions to companies under the One District, One Factory policy.
“Dzata Cement was a company that benefitted from these unconstitutional and illegal tax incentives but we all know that by the imperative of the [1992] Constitution, it is only Parliament that can impose tax or waive taxation but some actions of the executive under certain rule of necessity,
The company was granted a tax waiver and we did not complain because we were told that ït was a strategic investor.”
