Deputy Majority leader Alexander Afenyo Markin has stated the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration could be tempted to listen to concerns raised by the public about the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) and withdraw the Bill completely.
According to him, in spite of all the difficulties the government is a listening government and could withdraw the Bill and not bring it back but the effect of COVID-19 demands creation of new avenues for revenue generation to fix at least two very critical sectors; the road and employment sectors.
He stated that young entrepreneurs anxious to start their own businesses and find sourcing capital from the banks expensive are looking to the government’s YouStart Initiative for the needed support.
The Deputy leader disclosed this in Parliament last Friday during an interview.
He argued that the roads and unemployment situations in the country have reached critical levels but noted that while the public sector cannot admit more people there are no funds to construct and repair the much-needed roads.
“So this E-levy as contained in the Budget Statement is aimed at looking at creating opportunities for our young men and women who want to take advantage of the private sector.”
“The main concern has been the source of capital and the government is looking to use part of the E-levy to support our young entrepreneurs; right from the district level all the way up.”
“It will be a game-changer and that is why I believe with the explanation being offered, Ghanaians will very much appreciate why the introduction of the levy,” he stated.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin averred that on the road sector, there is a need to have a sustainable, dedicated, reliable source of funding and disclosed that as Chairman of the Road Fund, there is just about GH¢75 million to be disbursed and questioned what it can do.
“How many contractors are you going to pay? So the reality is that there are key aspects of the economy that we must look for a reliable source of funding so we can grow the economy,” he added.
He argued that concerns about the general wastage in the public sector financial management should be a call on all Ghanaians and should not be limited only to the political class in order to work out a feasible solution.
He advocated for the use of technology at the national to the district levels to curb waste and pilfering of public finances and argued many of the leakages are human-related.
“If we move to support the technological drive to deal with some of those issues we can save the country funds for development,” he added.
Source: Mypublisher24.com
