Name our MPs who support E-Levy – NDC dares Okyere Baafi

A deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Barbara Serwaa Asamoah has debunked claims that there are some MPs in the Minority who are in support of E-levy.

A claim was recently made by Deputy Minister for Trades and Industry and MP for New Juaben South, Michael Okyere Baafi suggesting that most MPs from the opposing side endorse the controversial Bill secretly and wants the Majority to approve it.

“There are NDC MPs who have told us [members of the Majority] to approve the E-levy on their behalf because they cannot come out publicly on that,” Baafi is heard telling some of his constituents in a viral video.

In the said video, the freshman MP said “We are all in Parliament and they [NDC MPs] are our friends so I know what I am saying.”

His comment comes after the Minority vowed to vote against the Bill which is before Parliament now awaiting another debate and voting.

Reacting to the comment of the New Juaben South MP, Barbara Asamoah was quick to rubbish the claim which is now gaining ground on social media.

Madam Asamoah, a former Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, indicated that their party and its side in parliament have already told Ghanaians that the levy is a regressive one.

“It is a fraudulent Bill so what we are saying is that, we [in the NDC] are not approving it today or tomorrow,” Madam Asamoah stated and dared Michael Okyere Baafi to mention the names of the NDC MPs who have secretly urged the NPP MPs to approve the levy.

Protests

Joining the Yenntua (we won’t pay) demonstration last week, NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia said a future NDC government would abolish the E-levy should the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government succeeds in passing it into law.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia said the NDC was not opposed to taxation but sees the E-levy as an attempt by the government to “rob” ordinary citizens of their source livelihood amidst the “prevailing economic hardship in the country.

He said the proposed E-levy was not taxation but “daylight robbery” since there are several alternatives for revenue generation.