Development Economist, Dr. George Domfe, has disclosed that he does not trust the NDC to follow through with its promise to abolish the E-levy when the party comes to power.
Reacting to John Mahama’s statement that the NDC will repeal the E-levy, he intimated that the NDC previously promised to deal with some policies when it was voted into power but didn’t keep to its promise. According to him, looking back at the history of things, he wouldn’t want to trust the promise they are making currently.
“Historically, I will not trust them because there were two important issues they had to deal with when they were in power that is, the deregulation of the petroleum sector and also the communication tax. They promised abolishing them when they had the opportunity but they rather increased the rate.”
Dr. George Domfe
Dr. Domfe questioned the former President if his promise to repeal the E-levy is feasible. He stated that when President Mahama was President somewhere 2014-2015, the economy was downgraded and because of that, going to the bond market, the nation had to procure bonds at very exorbitant rates.“Today as we speak, we are being punished for that.”
“I think one of the bonds I remember was a 23-year bond. We procured it at 19 percent and what it means is that, for every one billion dollars raised, every year you are going to pay $190 million to the bond holder. So, at the end of the 23 years, you will pay same value of what you have procured to the bond holder.”
Dr. George Domfe
Dr. Domfe averred that if the former President wants to truly go ahead and abolish the E-levy as he claims, he can go ahead. “It is possible that when he comes he can abolish it and we can go to the bond market but there is nothing like free lunch anywhere.”
NDC has bad record of reversing policies
Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stated that the former President, John Mahama, has a bad track record of reversing policies initiated by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Commenting on Mahama’s promise to repeal the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) when the NDC wins power in the 2024 elections, the Information Minister reminded Ghanaians that the last time the NDC and Mahama made a similar statement was when the communication service tax was introduced but didn’t fulfill it. He then urged citizens not to be convinced by the promise of the former President.
“He [Mahama] argued against it that the cost of internet and talk time will go up by 8% in Parliament and later joined the late Professor Atta Mills as his running mate to make a promise that they were going to abolish the communication service tax.
“When they won power, they turned around and increased the rate. So, I think there is a clear track record and nobody should be dissuaded by some of these comments, the Ghanaian economy is in safe hands. The 2017 to 2019 window shows us clearly that the NPP and the Akufo-Addo administration had the competencies to bring the Ghanaian economy back on track.”
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
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