Let’s accept the E-Levy to spur job creation - Coordinator

Mr. Shadrach Abrefa, the Bono Regional Youth Employment Coordinator has advised Ghanaians to accept the proposed E-Levy for the government to generate enough resources and create jobs for the youth.

He explained the E-Levy, currently before parliament for consideration, would provide a robust financial backbone for the implementation of the ‘YouStart’ policy geared towards job creation and poverty reduction.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr. Abrefa, also the Deputy Youth Organiser of the ruling New Patriotic Party in the Region, said the government had prioritized youth employment, and required enough resources to create more jobs.

“The government is focusing on the private sector, particularly, entrepreneurship development, through the ‘Youstart’ policy for economic transformation and this can only be achieved through taxation.

“When implemented E-Levy would mostly focus on creating jobs like the talk tax that had created employment for thousands of youth under the Youth Employment Agency”, Mr. Abrefa said, indicating with the e-levy the government could generate enough revenue to create job opportunities and improve the country’s infrastructure development as well.

“We must therefore embrace and encourage our Members of Parliament (MPs) to pass the e-levy so that the government would have the financial capacity to implement the GHS 10 billion ‘YouStart’ initiative aiming at creating one million jobs in the next three years,” he said.

Mr. Abrefa asked Ghanaians to ignore criticisms of the levy by the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), saying the “NDC is only good at criticizing good initiatives such as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Free Senior High School programme and the School Feeding Programme.

“The E-Levy would definitely be of help to every Ghanaian and so we need to come together and support such a laudable initiative of the government for national growth and development”, he added.