Daring The Political Intelligentsia

 

This write-a-thon endeavour I have taken up in this important medium is not an easy task.

The skill for writing is not the same as the rhetoric on radio and television.

Sometimes, how to pick a topic is a kind of ‘wahala’.  This week, there is no dearth of issues to be discussed.

On the contrary, I have difficulty picking the politically correct topic that will attract the needed readership and political ‘salute’.

Nevertheless, this week I want to dare the political class by telling them that the introduction of some taxes in the 2024 budget can only be described as a ‘political bombshell’.

 

VAT On Electricity Tariffs

Prior to the presentation of the 2024 budget in November last year, the business community and a section of society sent a kind of ‘SOS’ message to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta not to increase taxes because they tend to increase the cost of doing business thereby raising the cost of living.

That is why governments must always weigh the effects of the double-edged sword when taxes are being imposed on the people.

The government has time and again bemoaned the low level of taxes in the country and their impact on revenue generation, but this does not mean the people must be ‘burdened’ with nuisance taxes.

It is important at this stage to ask Ken Ofori-Atta to explain the rationale for the imposition of VAT on electricity consumption.

Is it to solve a pressing need in order to avoid the dreaded ‘dumsor’ or just a meddlesome intervention to make life more unbearable for the people? Maybe, the Finance Minister has forgotten the way he and his NPP government berated the John Mahama government for imposing nuisance taxes on the people.

The Akufo-Addo government took the view in 2017 that some taxes were just nuisances, and abolished them for which the public applauded President Akufo-Addo.

But I can say without any shred of contradiction that the imposition of VAT on electricity is the ‘mother of all nuisance taxes’.

And is the government listening to the grumblings from the corridors of Organised Labour? They have given an ultimatum to the government.

And again, has the government learnt any lessons from the unpopular E-Levy and the vote of no confidence on that tax by the refusal of a section of the society to turn its back to the otherwise attractive mobile money business?

It appears the government has lost the acclaim as a listening government because the hawks in the Economic Management Team behave like angels who can never make a mistake.

These hawks in the government have made the NPP unattractive to the business community.  It is time the government steps back to review some of its economic policies that appear to be hurting the people.

 

Black Stars’ shame

The Black Stars have suddenly become a headache. Prior to our appearance at AFCON 2023 in Abidjan, most people were advised by their General Physicians (GPs) to stay away from Black Stars matches in order not to aggravate their health conditions.

For some time now, the country has just been ‘wasting’ money on the senior national team.

Today, less fancied nations that stood in awe of Ghana now match us boot for boot, and that is how come Cape Verde and Comoros have exposed us as ‘nobody’ in the comity of nations. It is my view that we should take politics out of sports and do the needful to bring back the glorious days of the Black Stars.

What has happened to the report of the Justice Senyo Dzamefe Commission into the abysmal performance of the Black Stars in Brazil and the White Paper thereof?

If that report had been implemented, these challenges of the Black Stars would have been abated. Ghana today has no national team. It is in shambles. Did the Kofi Amoah Normalisation Committee do anything for Ghana football?

While Ghana football continues to face challenges, Dr. Amoah feels encouraged to be prescribing solutions to national politics as ‘Mr. Know It All’.

Ghanaians have been told the National Team Coach, Chris Hughton, has been fired. But what next? Should the Kurt Okraku administration continue to be in office?

Ghanaians continue to express dissatisfaction at the performance of the Black Stars, leading to the dissolution of the Technical Team.

Can the Kurt Okraku administration absolve itself from the national disgrace in Cote d’Ivoire where the Black Stars never won a single game?

Mr. President, please dissolve the Black Stars and the GFA led by Kurt Okraku now, and let us face the wrath of FIFA.

If that sanction would lead to a better normalisation of Ghana football, then that would be worth the sacrifice.

Football is fun and business as well, and tournaments involving the Black Stars unite the political divide.

That is what is desirable and not the heart aches being suffered by some people anytime the Black Stars play.

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