Sulemana Braimah predicts chaos ahead of E-levy implementation on May 1

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah predicts chaos may erupt should government go ahead and roll out the E-levy come May 1.

He said a lot of people did not understand the process, particularly mobile money merchants.

Speaking on the “AM show” on Joy news, he said several questions are left unanswered.

“On the issue of implementation, if indeed we want to start implementation on May 1, perhaps we should be bracing ourselves for chaos because I foresee a lot of chaos at the transaction points be it at the banks or at the Mobile Money joints and so on. Look, people just don’t understand.

“Only yesterday, I asked two Mobile Money merchants about what is going to happen and they don’t know, they don’t understand. They are not sure whether it is when someone comes to send money that the deduction will be made or when someone is withdrawing from their wallet that the deduction will be made and so on and so forth. So if indeed we will want to start implementation from May 1, then I think that we should put in mechanisms to deal with the eventual chaos that we will witness,” he stated.

After many tussles, the government passed the E-levy in March 2022 in a one-sided house with the implementation expected to take effect from May 1.

Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament is seeking an injunction on the rollout of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).