MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo
Proceeds from the E-Levy will be used to support, youth employment, digital and road infrastructure, Ken Ofori Atta
Wage bill has more than doubled since 2017
Government has borrowed excessively – Isaac Adongo
Bolgatanga Central MP, Mr Isaac Adongo has said the government’s position that the e-levy was badly needed for the implementation of projects for the development of the country was false.
According to the MP (Member of Parliament), the government needed the levy to fix the mess it had created by managing the economy.
He noted that since the government came to power in 2017 the expenditure on wage bill has more than doubled from GH¢14 billion to nearly GH¢ 35 billion
He explained that the wage bill had not increased because of the improvement of the conditions of service of workers but because of the government’s reckless employment into the public sector.
Mr Adongo who disclosed this at a public forum on the 2022 Budget in Accra said: “the GH¢ 70 billion e-levy they are asking you to pay in one year is not for roads and also not for building hospitals.
“It is because they want to use it to finance the mess they have created, the unregulated expansion of the public sector and the unreasonable increase in the countries public debt which must be paid for – that is why they are asking us to pay e-levy, it is not to finance economic development”, he added
He said clearly the government was not managing the economy properly, if they were they would focus on building a lean and efficient public sector that would create the condition necessary for the private sector to grow and create more employment to absorb the teeming unemployed youth.
He added the government was spending a lot on interest payment because it continues to borrow, however, the funds borrowed could not be traced to any significant development
He added that the said interest payment alone and wage bill adds up to GH¢70billion the government hoped to acquire from the e-levy in just one year.