A former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Okaikwei North constituency, Mr. Fuseini Issah, has justified the government’s allocation of over GHS240 million for the collection of the 1.75 percent levy on electronic transactions.

According to him, the allocation is in line with best practices.

The government has been chastised over the said allocation.

Contributing to the discussion on Citi FM/Citi TV’s weekend current affairs programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, December 11, 2021, the former lawmaker justified the allocation.

He said he would rather be surprised if no allocation was made in the budget for the collection of the e-levy.

“It makes sense for the government to budget for the collection of the revenue for the e-levy. In any case, there would be collection and someone or entity has to do the collection and that is why it has been budgeted for and that’s the essence of budgeting.”

“I think it is the appropriate thing to be done and nothing untoward has been done. If GRA or KelniGvG does the collection, it will be paid for.”

The concern was first raised by the MP for North Tongu, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

According to him, the allocation is needless and does not pass any test of accountability.

The matter of the imposition of the e-levy in the 2022 budget remains the most contentious in the house.

“We take the view that over the last four years, the Ghanaian taxpayer has been burdened with billions of cedis in the name of revenue assurance contracts and arrangements and so you can speak to the KelniGVG and the rest, and they are very costly”.

“We should by now be having very adequate and reliable systems if we are getting value for money for all of these arrangements. We do not need another entity to be granted such a colossal amount in the name of revenue assurance,” he said in a Citi News interview.