Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, has joined the clarion call to urge support for the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).
With the levy touted as a youth-oriented policy, Mr Dery, who is also the Nandom Member of Parliament, has reiterated it will help to reduce youth unemployment in the country.
“One of the reasons why we are collecting this tax is to provide our boys and girls, sons and daughters, with employment and you say we shouldn’t collect it?
“Now you have NABCo people asking to be paid. That is better than having an unemployed graduates association. At least, they are paid to look up and we are sure we will pay them,” he said at the Wa edition of the government’s E levy sensitisation Town Hall Meeting on Monday.
He stressed the levy will help the government continue with its intervention programmes including the Free SHS, School Feeding Programme, Subsidies for farmers among others.
The Minister further described as offensive, the proposal of the National Democratic Congress for government to return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance.
“The most offensive one is that we should go to IMF. We went to IMF before. What was the result? High youth unemployment,” he queried.
Mr Dery further berated the stance of the opposition on the bill, questioning “Our opponent said their argument against the E-Levy is to protect the poor but how much money has the poor?”
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He added: “The same people tell us it is not a good tax and if we implement, we will lose the next election and we say approve so we lose the next election. In any case, you want us to lose that is why you are there.”
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