The Chief Executive Officer of the Public Sector Reforms, Thomas Kusi-Boafo has entreated members of the Minority in Parliament to prioritize the passing of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) bill into law.
Government’s proposed 1.5% E-Levy has heavily been resisted by the minority, causing a delay in the passage of the bill.
This has had an impact on government’s revenue generation efforts as outlined in the 2022 budget.
Speaking in an interview with Wontumi FM monitored by GhanaWeb, Mr. Kusi Boafo warned the Minority about the effects of failing to support the E-Levy bill
He noted that MPs will not be spared the repercussions if the bill is not passed.
“If you refuse to pass E-Levy, funds for the payment of your salaries will be hard to come by. The same way your refusal to pass E-Levy will prevent us from creating employment opportunities for others, it is the same way your salary will be affected.
“You can’t eat your cake and have it. Government says revenue has gone down, it will not affect their (MPs) salaries alone, your allowances such as sitting and fuel allowance will all be affected,” he stated.
As part of government’s measures towards mitigating recent economic challenges, some cuts in expenditure including a reduction in salaries for members of the executive has been announced.
With calls being made on members of the legislature to follow suit, members of the minority who are MPs from the opposition National Democratic Congress have served notice of their unwillingness to make pay cuts.
Responding to this position by the opposition MPs, Mr Kusi Boafo in the interview said,” who should sacrifice for you if you don’t want to sacrifice? If you as an MP who has made a commitment to sacrifice is not willing to do that who do you expect to sacrifice”.
CEO of Public Sector Reforms, Thomas Kusi Boafo