Lydia Forson slams Ken Ofori-Atta

Government offers explanation for decision to introduce E-levy

Lydia Forson ‘fights’ Ofori-Atta

Actress Lydia Forson has picked holes in Ken Ofori-Atta’s comment that the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) will give Ghanaians more of a moral right to demand their due from the government.

At a town hall meeting to justify the government’s decision to introduce a levy of 1.75 percent on electronic transactions above GH¢100, the finance minister said “Once you pay taxes, you will have the moral authority to be able to require certain performance from the political elite, and that is what we should be doing.”

“Our call to you is to let your MPs know that beyond all of this the Ghana dream will require that we are all part of this burden-sharing…to build our country,” Mr Ofori-Atta added.

In reaction to the remarks the minister made, Lydia Forson in a tweet chastised the government appointee for seeking medical care in the United States of America.

She said: “You flew in a private jet to another country to seek medical treatment when people were dying here due to the lack of proper medical infrastructure. You lost the moral authority to tell people they don’t have moral authority please.”

The minister, after recovering from COVID-19 in December last year, had medical complications which doctors advised, require further interventions not currently available in Ghana, the ministry said. He left for the US for a “special medical review”.

Meanwhile, Ken Ofori-Atta has assured Ghanaians his government will make judicious use of taxes and protect the public purse.

“We also looked at our fiscal consolidation, in which we then said that we were going to try and reduce our deficit in a way that enables us to get a lot more resources for that.”

“We will be reminded to ensure that we use this money well, and the issue of protecting the public purse becomes paramount to us,” Mr. Ofori-Atta said.

According to the 2022 Budget, the levy will be applied to mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances. All charges will be borne by the sender except in the case of inward remittances where the charge will be borne by the recipient.