The Dean of the University of Ghana School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba, has said that the controversial e-levy is the only way to save Ghana’s economy from the collapse in the short term.
Describing the levy as “horrendous and wicked”, he admitted that government needs the revenue, to be accrued from taxing electronic transactions, to sustain the economy and redeem it from falling apart.
The professor, however, counselled authorities to stop deceiving the public and admit their ‘wrongs’ while seeking forgiveness from its citizenry.
“The starting point for passing the E-levy is for government to stop lying to the citizenry, come clean and confess that they thought the job of managing the economy was simple, but now they know better, plead with the people of Ghana that we have limited options now.”
According to him, Ghanaians would have a change of heart and rally behind the government out of empathy should leaders confess that managing the economy is a tough task.
Prof. Raymond Atuguba made these comments while speaking at a forum organized by Solidare Ghana.
While calling on Ghanaians to accept the e-levy, with its accompanying inconvenience, he charged the government to effectively implement the policy.
He added that in order to avoid falling into the grips of the IMF, just as the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta said, Ghanaians should accept the e-levy.
“To prevent the collapse of the economy and a return to the stronghold of the IMF, we have no choice but to pass it…. As horrible and wicked as it is, it is the only way to save our economy from collapse in the short term,” Prof Atuguba stated.
