'I don’t see the capitalism of the NPP government' – Abraham Koomson

The Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), Abraham Koomson has expressed disappointment at the Minority MPs in Parliament, following the approval of President Akufo-Addo’s new ministerial nominees last Friday.

Despite the Minority’s resolve to reject the 6 nominees, final results of the voting in parliament Friday night showed over 30 NDC MPs went against the stance of the party and voted in favour of President Akufo-Addo’s nominees, further adding to the already bloated government of the President.

It has emerged that the approval of the nominees has caused anger in the opposition NDC as well as among a section of Ghanaians.

The Minority leadership had vowed to kick against the nominees to save the country some funds, especially at a time the country’s economy is collapsing but some of the opposition MPs did not adhere to the directives of their party– the NDC.

However, speaking on Dwaboase on TV XYZ, Abraham Koomson, indicated that the conduct of the Minority last Friday showed that they are not holding the government to account.

Again, Abraham Koomson said the action of the Minority showed they were not willing to fight for the interest of the ordinary Ghanaians.

Abraham Koomson’s comment comes barely a week after his outfit petitioned Ghana’s Parliament not to approve a proposed 20 percent excise tax on beverages.

The proposed introduction of the Excise Duty Amendment Bill, 2022, is an amendment to the Excise Duty Act 2014 (Act 878).

According to Mr Koomson, the bill, when passed, will increase the operational cost of local beverage manufacturers, which could inadvertently lead to the downsizing of operations.

He said the new excise duty will be inappropriate when the proposed bill is passed by parliament.

“Now we are scared and not sure if the Minority whom we, until last Friday thought, was for the interest of Ghanaians will act on our petition and support our cause,” Koomson said on Monday.

The unionist said the approval of the Akufo-Addo ministers shifts the Minority from their ideological leanings as NDC MPs.

To him, the Bill will collapse businesses when approved by Parliament.

“Already businesses in that sector are paying about 17 taxes already,” Koomson said while listing the tall list of taxes.

“So how can a government which says it a capitalist do these to businesses,” he quizzed. "I don’t see the capitalism of the NPP government.”

"This government seems to be anarchists…and the NDC MPs who were our hope seem to have moved from the social democratic ideologies,” he said.

He further argued that the proposed tax would go a long way to worsen growth and development in the private sector and Ghana as a whole, adding “the private sector is overburdened and yet to recover from the ravages of COVID-19 and global economic decline.”

He said the Akufo-Addo government should rather broaden the tax base and net and also ensure that a large chunk of people not covered by VAT and corporate tax are drawn into the net.