Government bullying citizens at E-Levy town hall meetings – David Tamakloe

Editor of WhatsUp News, David Tamakloe, said the town hall meetings organized by the Ministry of Finance to consult Ghanaians on the E-levy is actually an avenue to intimidate people.

According to him, the town hall meetings by government demonstrate loss of mandate.

“There are laws which require the gov’t to embark on consultations before tabling such policies before parliament and their actions now prove they are lost. They are now wasting fuel at the expense on stakeholders and are not even embarking on a consultation drive.”

“They are simply going around threatening people. They are say if E-levy is not passed, there will be no free SHS policy, the country’s roads cannot be fixed and MPs will not receive their salaries.”

David Tamakloe suggests such a behavior is equal to intolerance and “we cannot accept this by gov’t. We can’t accept that these threats are described as consultation to create an understanding and acceptance of the e-levy.”

In a discussion on the Editors’ Take Edition of the Happy Morning Show with Samuel Eshun, David Tamakloe said the e-levy was not well thought through and the government has refused to listen to the concerns of the people. “That is why we find ourselves in this unfortunate situation and its nuances.”

According to him, it does not make sense for the government to be encouraging a cashless society and now turning around to impose a tax on electronic transactions.

Months after the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta announced plans by the government to implement the e-levy, many Ghanaians have still not come to terms with the levy.

As a part of efforts to explain to the Ghanaian people why the country needs the e-levy, government on Thursday, January 27, held the first town hall meeting to discuss the levy, and held its second as part of the series on Wednesday, February 2, 2022.