Rev. Dr. Charles Owusu Ampofo, President of the Ghana Baptist Ministers Conference, has proposed to the government to commission an intra-party committee, comprising eminent personalities like men of God, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and people with integrity to manage the revenue from the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) to ensure judicious use and transparency.
According to him, the passage of the E-levy was not about the appropriateness or inappropriateness, but the utilisation as to whether it was going to serve the intended purpose was another thing which calls for debates and discussions.
Speaking at the Baptist Ministers Conference at Ejura in the Sekyedumase Municipality in the Ashanti Region to revive the ministers’ quest to effective and efficient evangelisation to win more souls to God as their core mandate, Rev. Owusu Ampofo stated that paying of taxes was not the problem of the Ghanaian citizens over the years, but the usage of the taxpayer’s monies had been the problem, saying if the ordinary Ghanaians felt the positive impact of their taxes in their lives, they would be ready to pay more and not mind.
The Pastor admitted that the E-levy had suffered a lot before its passage, hence, the need for those who would be entrusted to manage the revenue to ensure that it was used for the intended purpose to motivate and encourage Ghanaians to pay more.
He expressed the hope that if the taxpayers realised the fruits of the taxes and monies being deducted by the government, they (taxpayers) would be ready to sacrifice and contribute more as their quota to generate more revenues if the funds were not mismanaged.
