Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, has responded to claims by New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority is sabotaging government business.
Speaking on Top Story on Wednesday, September 4, he argued that the Majority’s concern over potential disruptions of businesses due to the Minority’s opposition to tax waivers presented before the House is unfounded.
His comments follow accusations by Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who claimed that the Minority was obstructing key government initiatives after they opposed the $350 million in tax waivers.
Mr Afenyo-Markin argued that if MPs were genuinely concerned about the country’s welfare, they would put aside partisanship in matters of national importance.
He noted that, the government was merely trying to reduce the tax burden on businesses.
In response, Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said that the NDC’s opposition stemmed from concerns that these tax waivers primarily benefit government cronies.
“We strongly believe that these giveaways of tax exceptions is unwarranted and we believe that the time that the country is bleeding, Ghana should not be giving such give always to cronies businesses,” he said.
In light of this, the Tamale Central MP questioned the efficacy of these tax waivers, especially considering the rising value of the dollar.
“What benefits will it be to the business and industries if we give them tax incentives yet increase import duties at the import. What benefits will it be to the industries and businessmen in this country when doing business in this country – we are going down the drain,” he asked.
Mr Mohammed further said that tax waivers alone are not a solution to reduce the burden on businesses, pointing out that the most important issue is for the government to stabilise the Ghana cedi.
“Unfortunately, that is not the case today. The cedi to the dollar is over 15 cedis so I’m saying that tax incentives alone is not the panacea,” he said.
He criticised the government’s financial management, suggesting that the push for tax waivers might be a result of excessive government spending.
Source: myjoyonline.com
