The Deputy Finance Minister, John Kumah, has intimated that the outcome of the implementation of the E-levy has been a positive one so far.
John Kumah averred that although the implementation is not at its peak yet, even with the first phase, government is satisfied.
“So far, I think it looks even more positive than we thought. We want to take this opportunity to thank Ghanaians and also to thank the stations in helping to educate Ghanaians to understand the importance of the E-levy and what it covers so that we can make a way out of the massive propaganda and lies around the E-levy. Fortunately, it is going on well so far.”
John Kumah
Commenting on some complaints received from some citizens over wrongful charges, John Kumah assured that appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that the institutions involved go strictly according to the proceeds of the law and exempt all challenges.
“Already, people can confirm that they have received messages of reversed transaction. We will ensure that every complaint that come is looked into and the appropriate action is taken.”
John Kumah
Government to continuously improve system
According to John Kumah, government will continue to improve the system being used to carrying out the project. This, he assured, will be done until government achieves the best with regards to carrying out the E-levy deductions.
Asked whether the GHS4.5 billion revenue target will be over achieved, Mr. Kumah indicated it is too early a stage to begin to revise the target figures. However, he intimated that the initial expectations still holds regardless of the huge propaganda and fight by the NDC.
“We were not so hopeful in the beginning and how people were going to be on the MoMo, but we’ve been overwhelmed. People continue to accept MoMo and transact. Infact, some people have expressed joy that at least, it gives them the opportunity to confidently say that they are also part of building the nation, contributing their little quotas to ensure that the nation raises enough revenue to build the country.”
John Kumah
The Deputy Finance Minister disclosed that, all the charging finance institutions are going to be on a common platform. He, however, revealed that it has not been fully achieved yet because some of the Telcos have not been able integrate because of the timing they received their systems.
“So, the target is to achieve that by July. So, at the moment, the Telcos doing their on-net deductions have within 24 hours to deduct all the E-levy charges they have in a day to transmit it to the consolidated fund.”
John Kumah
John Kumah noted that government has revenue assurance measures to know all transactions that happens on every Telcos’ system to enable it confirm the figures to be sure that government is not being shortchanged on the taxes. “We are ultimately going to be on the same common platform where government in real time will know all the transactions from all the charging entities.”
Touching on how the money from the E-levy collection that’s going into the consolidated fund will be directed at the specific policy, Mr. Kumah indicated that it will be achieved through the budget process.
The Deputy Minister indicated that with government’s promise of ensuring the youth to go into entrepreneurship, the monies will be directed to that end. He stated that those involved will testify afterwards for people to know the monies have been put to good use.
Read Also: Agribusiness MSMEs Need Concessionary Financing to Thrive- Nicholas Issaka
