Government push for passage of the bill
Bawumia silent on E-levy brouhaha
The main opposition party, National Democratic Congress, is piling pressure on Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to state his position on the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).
In some social media posts by prominent members of the NDC, the second gentleman of the land has been criticized for his “long silence” over the levy which has sharply divided public opinion.
Former President John Mahama’s aide, Joyce Bawah Mogtari believes the vice president is best placed to respond to some concerns on the levy since he heads the economic management team of the country.
“…why has the Vice President (VP) gone stone silent on the unrepentant position of his government and economic management team to impose the levy. This is someone who told us that any kind of tax, especially taxing MoMo, is wicked and will not happen under President Akufo-Addo.
“Mr. VP, where is the money you saw as Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana? Where is the exchange rate you arrested? Where is the wise economic management you promised? And, oh! Like you yourself intimated, we don’t even remember who the members of your economic management team who have brought us to this sorry point are. Are you actually still in government?” Bawah Mogtari quizzed.
She further quoted an old tweet from the vice president about taxation under the NDC regime.
The tweet read, “NDC has resorted to increasing taxes under the economic difficulties they created. An NPP government will do differently”.
In her response, Joyce Bawah Mogtari wrote “Hopefully Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will speak out!!”
Another prominent NDC member who has been on the heels of Dr. Bawumia since the E-levy debate resurfaced is former Deputy Minister of Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
On his part, he wants the vice president to answer some 170 questions he posed to former late vice president Kwesi Amissah Arthur while the vice president was the running mate to the then-candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in 2016.
“Anyone who has Bawumia’s 170 questions on the economy should forward them to me for onward passage to him for answers.
"Never have answers to those questions been more needed than now that he has supervised the near-collapse of the Ghanaian economy,” Felix Kwakye Ofosu wrote on his Facebook handle.
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia