Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has sarcastically forecasted that government and its communicators may blame the failure to pass the controversial Electronic Transactions Levy (e-levy) for irregular rainfall this year.
His post on his Facebook page follows a call on Ghanaians by Alexander Afenyo Marking to support the e-levy to help government raise money to address national issues including the evacuation of stranded Ghanaians from Ukraine which is under attack by Russia.
The Member of Parliament for Effutu constituency and deputy majority leader was speaking in parliament on Thursday, February 24 concerning the globally condemned onslaught by Russia on Ukraine, and how to rescue Ghanaian citizens from harm’s way.
His comments have sparked numerous reactions with many Ghanaians cynically saying that the e-levy appears to be the government’s panacea for every problem of the country without which its running must come to a standstill.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta is also on record to have said recently that the country’s economy would collapse if the e-levy fails to get parliamentary approval.
Aside from him, many other New Patriotic Party communicators and MPs have made comments to the effect that many flagship programmes of the government including the Free Senior High School, payment of road contractors among other things will suffer unless the e-levy is passed into law.
The government is seeking to impose a 1.75% levy on all electronic money transfers but the attempts have been fiercely resisted by the majority of Ghanaians including the opposition National Democratic Congress and its MPs.
