INTRODUCTION OF NEW LEVIES
TO WORSEN HARDSHIP ON GHANIANS –AWUNI
By Derrick Amarh Anum
The e Executive Director of the
Centre for Freedom and Accuracy (CFA), Andrew Awuni has described the decision
by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Seth Tepker, to impose new levies, duties and
charges to reduce the current budget deficit as shallow and unimaginative.
Addressing a press conference on
Wednesday on the state of the country’s economy, Mr. Awuni noted that such a decision would impose further hardship
on the consumer public. Besides, the new levies would suffer the wastage that
parliament and the Auditor General have been complaining about over the years.
“The Centre For Freedom and
Accuracy believes that if we truly want
to cause positive changes to our revenue collection in this country then we
need to do something more than the implementation of the old strategy of
introducing new levies or increasing old ones
to make for the shortfall, “he stated.
According to Mr. Awuni,” if we commit to finding all the lost
revenue as reported in the2011have been
reported by our parliament Auditor
General’s report alone we will not need
to put any more burden on the public . So
then let us see some action to recover the losses that have been reported by our
parliament and the Auditor General before we start imposing additional levies,”
Mr. Awuni expressed worry at the
current situation where officials fail to properly account for government
revenues accrued from state properties that are divested or sold. “It’s also worrying to hear government
officials failing to pursue government’s
interest in private companies. Government actually pays for the shares in these
private firms but nobody follows up to make sure the records are update to
reflect the new shareholding structure or returns on the investment”.
According to Mr. Awuni, the 2011
Auditors General Report reveals stories about poor treasurer management in the
year resulting to the loss of over GH₵75million in Bank Charges alone.
In the said report, he noted, an
amount of GH₵5.8million
of Non-Tax Revenue which was supposed to be paid in the consolidated fund had
not been paid. “There are also stories of multiple payments of salaries and
pensions, multiple dormant bank accounts and off course the infamous judgment
debt. In the report, the Auditor General
categorically states that GH₵ 218million was paid as judgment debt in 2011 and
describes these debt as “reckless and avoidable”; a description The Sole
Commissioner on Judgment Debt seems to agree with” he stated .
He said “There is no doubt that the
country is in a tight corner and will need to do something significant and
urgently too, to restore sanity to the economy.” In the midst of all these
challenges, the pressure of the implementation of the Single Spine Salary
structure and of the execution of the budget still remains.
He also describes the performance of Ghana’s economy
in the first quarter of (2013) by the Bank of Ghana is abject; adding that
Ghana’s trade deficit has experienced deteriorated economic deficit. He said total
exports have declined according to the first quarter report alongside non-oil imports.
Besides, the stock of public debt has shot up at a time when the country is
experiencing serious revenue shortfalls.
Andrew Awuni also cautioned Parliament
to be cautious in assessing proposals that seek to introduce new levies. He
urged them to take a non-partisan approach to these measures, putting the
interest of the country and the long term development of its economy ahead of
every other consideration.
“There is already a high cost of
doing business and the declining competitiveness of Ghana in the Sun Region as
contained in the doing business index. Parliament should know that there is an
increasing cost of funds from the commercial banks to businesses as was
admitted by the Governor the Bank of Ghana. Also the intensifying of utility
rates as was indicated by President John Mahama and the Finance Minister”, he
noted.
“Parliament must again examine the
Auditor General’s Report of 2011 which replete stories of how Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) and the Controller and Accountant General
Department (CAGD) appear to have shirked their responsibilities and have
literally thrown away millions of dollars belonging to the country away’” he
added.
