‘Poor Bawumia’ – Manasseh reacts to Akufo-Addo’s E-Levy defense in BBC interview

President Akufo-Addo grants BBC interview

Bawumia speaks against tax on MoMo

Government to impose 1.5% levy on electronic transactions

Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has reflected on Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s submission on taxing users of Mobile Money platforms on the back of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s recent

Read full articleinterview with the BBC.

Vice President Bawumia in August 2020 told Peace FM’s Kwame Sefa Kayi that he is against the imposition of tax on Mobile Money users.

“I don’t think Mobile Money should be taxed because most of the people who use the service are poor people so if you put more taxes on it they will suffer,” he said.

However, some two years down the line, the New Patriotic Party government led by President Akufo-Addo and deputized by Dr Bawumia, has passed legislation imposing a 1.5% levy on all electronic transactions.

President Akufo-Addo in a recent interview with the BBC defended his government’s decision to impose the E-Levy tax on Ghanaians contrary to a position by the interviewer that the policy affects the poor.

But according to Manasseh, the president has thrown his vice under the bus by defending the E-Levy.

He notes that while the vice president believes taxing MoMo will burden the poor, President Akufo-Addo believes otherwise as he stated that the Mobile Money sector is an emerging industry with revenue potential.

“Dr. Bawumia sees them as poor people who should not be taxed. Akufo-Addo sees them as "an industry" that must be milked. Poor DMB!” the journalist wrote in a tweet.

Dr. Bawumia sees them as poor people who should not be taxed. Akufo-Addo sees them as "an industry" that must be milked. Poor DMB!

— Manasseh Azure Awuni (@Manasseh_Azure) April 5, 2022