NPP Should Use Mahama As PRO For E-Levy – Gabby Otchere-Darko
Cousin to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo, Lawyer Gabby Otchere Darko, has described former President John Dramani Mahama as the perfect person to garner favourable public perception for revenue mobilization polices of the current government.
The opposition National Democratic Congress, through its minority group in parliament have mounted a heavy opposition by the government to impose a 1.5% levy on all electronic transactions.
The minority among other things have cited current economic conditions as one of the reasons underpinning its opposition to the E-Levy introduction.
However according to Gabby Otchere-Darko, the Ruling New Patriotic Party must consider former President Mahama as Public Relations Officer for his efforts in gaining public acceptance for government’s revenue mobilisation policies including the E-Levy.
In his view the former president by his utterances during his time in office, as well as policies contained in the NDC’s 2020 campaign manifesto, rather justifies the need for government to explore taxing as a revenue mobilization venture.
“In JM, the NPP government has the perfect PRO for all efforts towards revenue mobilisation, including e-levy (See P.99 of his NDC manifesto 2020 on a promise to impose uniform fees on all e-transactions). NPP should just be modest enough to use NDC’s JM more. My humble advice,” he tweeted.
The tweet by Gabby Otchere-Darko was accompanied by a video of former President Mahama addressing the need for government revenue mobilization.
In the said video, former President Mahama made a spirited case for tax policies and how they may sometimes be unpopular with the public but necessary.
“It is not every decision that will be popular. But what was I elected for, to take popular decisions? If I took popular decisions to make you happy with me, this country would be in the ground by now. They are tough decisions. But I mean, do I take pleasure in imposing tax on people?” Mr Mahama stated in portions of the video in which he was making a case for levies on fuel.