The Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akyem North, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, has said that the stubbornness of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is what has led to the poor performance of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy).
According to him, the minister refused to listen to the advice of New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs to reduce the rate of the levy from the proposed 1.75 percent to 1 percent.
In an Oyerepa TV interview , Andy Appiah said that should the minister have agreed to reduce the rate to 1 percent, MPs from both the minority and majority caucus would have supported the implementation of the levy and the clashes seen in the House would not have happened.
“The thing is that if you want to evaluate a process you should not be partial with it…we had the E-Levy discussion at Ho, and we (the NPP MPs) were of the view that the 1.75 (percent) rate was too high and it will meet public resistance; so it should be reduced.
He added, “We all agreed that if it was brought to 1 percent both the minority and the majority will agree and approve. And we will be able to collectively market it to the acceptance of the stakeholders. The intransigent at that ministry that exists till date is what brought the fights on the E-Levy.
“After some time, he (Ofori-Atta) said he had reduced the rate to 1.5 percent but the 1.5 was still not feasible. But he continued to give us hope that we can deliver with the 1.5,” he said in the Twi dialect.
“This guy does not listen to anyone. So, the minority rejected the levy in Parliament because there was no consensus and this is what characterised our debate to the point it got to. Was it necessary,” Andy Appiah, who is one of the NPP MPs calling for Ofori-Atta’s removal, added.
Source: Pak MediaGh
