Member of Parliament for Suaman Dadieso Constituency, Fredrick Addy, has reacted to the government’s decision to impose a one cedi tax on all petroleum products aimed at addressing power crisis which is commonly known as ‘dumsor’.
He stated that, ironically, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who previously slammed the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) taxation has surprisingly now made a U-turn on their own promise.
According to him, the Gh¢1 fuel levy is even more costly compared to the old taxes the NPP took during their tenure in office.
“The surprising thing is that, the NDC, who spoke ill against the various levies the NPP established, have also come out with a ‘D-Levy’ [Dumsor Levy] which is much more expensive when compared to that of the NPP’s old levies,” he explained.
He said this on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, when he was expressing his opinion on the ‘Dumsor-levy’ in Parliament.
Mr. Addy criticized the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, for not being able to stick to his promises of assuring Ghanaians that, taxes will be “a thing of the past” like he said during this ministerial vetting.
“The Finance Minister, during his vetting, guaranteed that, Ghana’s economic independence can be achieved without imposing certain levies, pledging to make them a thing of the past, but now, he has failed us” he censured.
He expressed concerns that, the new tax will significantly burden farmers, especially those in his constituency, who rely on fuel for their operations.
“Imagine if the fuel is Gh¢50, you pay additional Gh¢5 as a contribution to fight power crisis; meanwhile, when the Electronic Levy (E-Levy) was effective under the past administration of NPP, making a mobile money transaction of Gh¢100 attracted just a levy of Gh¢1 but now, buying fuel for Gh¢100 attracts a ‘D-Levy’ of Gh¢10. The E-Levy Ghanaians once complained of and this current Levy initiated by the NDC, which one is better?
“This new levy has severely impacted my constituency, especially the poor farmers, draining their limited financial resources,” he added.
He urged the NDC to have an after taught of their stance on levies and be more realistic, particularly considering such financial burden the less-privileged will have to go through.
