MoMo vendors panic for fear of becoming jobless

A number of Mobile Money (MoMo) vendors in Sunyani are seemingly panicking about losing their jobs as many customers are now withdrawing their monies in bulk without making deposits.

Some of the vendors who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani stated that since customers had information about the passing of the E-Levy, there had been a rush to cash out monies to avoid tax deductions.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday, March 31, gave his assent to the E-Levy law earlier passed by the Legislature on Tuesday, March 29, and thus made it operational at 1.5 percent with effect from May 01 this year.

Mr. Apraku Manu, a MoMo vendor said they were losing a lot, due to bulk withdrawals by their customers.

He explained hitherto customers were withdrawing their monies, not in huge amounts, but now some are withdrawing as much as GhC5000.00

Mr. Manu stated a withdrawal of either GHC5000.00 or GHC1000.00 by different customers attracted the same charge of GhC10 which was compounding the situation of loss of commission by them, he added.

Mr. Manu said, however, that they had been sensitized and encouraged by some of the telecommunication industry operators such as MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana to remain calm but not to panic and concentrate on their businesses because “the E-Levy is not going to affect their businesses”.

According to him, the industry operators assured them that the E-Levy is neither going to create unemployment nor collapse the MoMo banking businesses.