Sam George says officials want to buy a platform to monitor E-Levy transactions
Why use US$40 million to buy another platform while we have the common platform – MP
Ningo-Prampram MP Sam Nartey George has alleged that some officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance are trying to enrich themselves through the implementation of the E-Levy.
According to the MP (Member of Parliament), the officials are trying to acquire a platform that will cost about US$40 million to monitor E-Levy transactions even though there are alternatives that will cost the state nothing.
"I have done some digging in the last three days to understand the architecture that is going to do this (implement the E-Levy)… some people just want to milk this country dry. They are individuals, I know their names and I will mention them in the coming days," he said in a Citi TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb.
"Those who are contriving to basically make money… to basically grow fat and this one most of them are not ministers or political appointees but persons in the Ministry of Finance and GRA – I know you, and I am coming for you. I have already mentioned one of the companies that they are using, Express Pay, and the attempts to use that company to milk the state by claiming they are building a platform to carry out the monitoring of the transactions," he added.
The MP added that the platform the ministry and GRA want to use is illegal, saying, "they intend to use AWUS. They are using a cloud system sitting in Northern Ireland to do processing of our financial transactions; it is against our laws."
He further stated that rather than using the new platform, the government could use the common platform, which is already a property of the government or allow the telecommunication companies to collect the levy.
"To make this work, what you need is a monitoring platform. The only way for you to do this is for you to take this tax like CST, where the Telcos are the ones who are running their platforms, the Telcos do the billing, and in the 28-day cycle or 30-day cycle or 40 -day cycle, they come with a report and make payments to government," he added.
The E-Levy Bill was passed by parliament with only members of the majority caucus in parliament present after members of the minority caucus staged a walkout.
The minority claimed that the levy's passage is illegal because the house had no quorum to pass the bill after it walked out and has filed a suit with the Supreme Court for it to nullify the passage of the bill.
However, Present Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assented to the E-Levy Bill, which has made it a law, despite the pending ruling of the Supreme Court on the case filed by the minority caucus.
Ningo-Prampram MP Sam Nartey George