Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has censured the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), accusing the administration of hypocrisy, deception, and secretly reintroducing the controversial electronic levy through the back door.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday May 26, the Effutu MP claimed the government had betrayed its earlier opposition to the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) by allowing the introduction of a proposed 0.75 per cent charge on wallet-to-bank transfers through the Bank of Ghana and Mobile Money Fintech Limited.
According to him, the move exposed what he described as the NDC government’s “double standards” after campaigning heavily against the E-Ley while in opposition.
“We’ve called this press conference basically to expose the NDC government’s hypocrisy and double standard,” Afenyo-Markin stated.
He recalled that the NDC strongly opposed the E-Levy introduced by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration led by former President Nana Akufo-Addo and former Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, describing it at the time as an unfair burden on Ghanaians.
However, he argued that after assuming office in 2025 and abolishing the E-Levy, the current administration had turned around to impose what he termed a “doomsday levy” through the Energy Sector Reform Levy, which increased fuel costs by GH¢1 per litre.
“The second surprise is that they have reintroduced the E-Levy, this time not even through Parliament,” he alleged.
The Minority Leader criticised the government for what he described as an attempt to impose the levy without parliamentary approval, insisting that unlike the previous E-Levy introduced by the NPP government through the national budget and legislative process, the new charges were being implemented administratively.
According to him, public backlash forced the central bank to suspend the proposed charges shortly after the announcement.
Afenyo-Markin questioned the explanation by authorities that the suspension was intended to allow for “further consultations,” arguing that the government itself had previously insisted on broad stakeholder engagement before introducing taxes or levies.
“The question is, what is further consultation in this context?” he asked.
He further demanded that the Finance Minister appear before Parliament on Thursday May 28, to explain the circumstances surrounding the proposed charges and why the policy was introduced without prior public engagement.
“We are not interested in the suspension. We are interested in how come, but for the public outcry, they were going to spring the surprise on the Ghanaian public,” he stressed.
Beyond the levy controversy, Afenyo-Markin accused the government of failing to deliver on several campaign promises, including the “One Job, Three Shifts” policy, cocoa pricing promises, agricultural support programmes, and job creation initiatives.
He claimed cocoa farmers, rice farmers, maize farmers, and yam farmers were all struggling under the current administration, while electricity and water tariffs had increased significantly within the government’s first year and a half in office.
The Minority Leader also alleged that the government had mishandled recruitment into the security services by selling forms to large numbers of applicants despite limited recruitment capacity.
According to him, although government projections could only accommodate about 5,000 recruits, hundreds of thousands of applicants were encouraged to apply and pay fees for medical examinations after undergoing aptitude tests.
“They know that the money they will be charging these innocent unemployed Ghanaian youth will not get them jobs,” he alleged.
Afenyo-Markin further criticised the government over what he described as the dismissal of lawfully employed workers and the failure to establish the promised Women’s Bank aimed at supporting Ghanaian women entrepreneurs.
“We’ve not even seen the bank,” he remarked.
He concluded by describing the NDC administration as “a government of propaganda” that says one thing and does another, insisting the Minority Caucus would continue to hold the government accountable over its policies and promises.
By 1969news.com
