Bawumia’s silence on E-levy shocking to many Ghanaians
An interesting dimension that seemed to have surprised some people was why Dr Bawumia went silent on the controversial E-levy during his economic lecture on Thursday.
The only instance he came close to mentioning the tax policy was when he was talking about taxes and levies abolished and reduced by the Akufo-Addo administration in the past five years.
According to Dr Bawumia, the Akufo-Addo administration has either reduced or abolished 18 taxes and levies and explained that they reduced the E-levy charge rate from 1.75% to 1.5%.
Prior to the introduction of the E-levy, Dr Bawumia is on record to have opposed any taxation on Mobile Money (MoMo) transactions suggesting that such a move will impoverish the average Ghanaian.
People were therefore taken aback when his government introduced the tax measure amidst huge public resistance to the policy.
Ghanaians wanted to know his stance on the E-levy following its controversial passage in Parliament and expected implementation in May 2022, but their expectations were not met as the Vice President failed to make any clear comment in that regard.
Despite concerns about the drop in the value and volume of mobile money transactions in Ghana, Dr Bawumia maintained that Ghana has the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa.
Before the implementation of the E-levy, data from the Bank of Ghana shows a decline in MoMo transactions and interoperability in the past few months.
He reiterated that Ghana is the first country to achieve fast-growing MoMo interoperability in the whole of Africa.
“I should note that Ghana is the first country in Africa and one of the few in the world to achieve this type of interoperability between bank accounts and mobile wallets. Achieving mobile money interoperability (MMI) in Ghana is therefore no small feat, especially at the cost ($4.5 million) we did it. The data shows that because of MMI, Ghana is the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa.”
