Finance Minister Shoots Down One District one Factory Policy -Kweku Kwarteng

Minister for finance, Ken Ofori Atta has breached article 174(2)
of the 1992 constitution, GIPC Act 2013 (865) as well as inter-country protocols on
trade and investments through the withdrawal of tax exemptions from strategic
investing companies in Ghana.



This
was confirmed by Kweku Kwarteng, deputy minister designate for finance during his
vetting in parliament today.



The Ghana government through the minister for finance has
written to withdraw legitimately and lawfully granted tax exemptions  from
 strategic investing companies in Ghana - a move which completely shoots down the
one district one factory policy which is aimed at bringing strategic investors into
all districts of our country to create employment and economic development.



Many
strategic investors have chosen Ghana ahead of its West African neighbours because of
the tax exemption incentive through the Ghana investment promotion Act. 2013.



According to
Kwaku Kwarteng who is also MP for Obuasi West, the move by government is intended to
deal with irregularities in the exemptions regime.



Answering a question from minority
leader Hon. Haruna Iddrisu as to why such a counter-productive measure is being used
by government to scare away strategic investors, Mr. Kwarteng said he supports the
measure because the ministry of finance has given a good reason for it’s
decision.



’'The minister of finance has responsibility to administer tax exemptions. There will be a refund to those beneficiaries. I know the implementation
of that has started. In my humble opinion, so long as the value of the tax is removed
from the beneficiaries, it constitutes a fair administration of the exemption
especially as we have been told by the ministry of finance that it is intended to
deal with ir
regularities of the exemptions regime’’, He said.



The minority leader Haruna
Iddrisu however challenged the deputy finance minister designate that the withdrawal
of the tax exemptions from strategic investors by the ministry of finance is a breach
of the Act of parliament which approved the tax exemptions to these strategic
investing companies and since the current tax variations by the ministry did not
receive approval of parliament.



Article 174 (2) of the constitution states ‘’Where
an Act, enacted in accordance with clause (1) of this article, confers power of any
person or authority to wave or vary a tax imposed by that Act, the exercise of the
power of waiver or variation, in favour of any person or authority, shall be subject
to the prior approval of parliament by resolution’’.



The withdrawal of the tax
exemptions by the finance ministry has received a backlash from the business
community especially foreign and local strategic investors who feel unfairly treated
by the new government’s directive because of the sudden financial burden it has
brought to their businesses.Â



The Ghana Investment
Promotion Centre Act 2013, (865) ‘’provides for the encouragement and promotion
of investments in Ghana, to provide for the creation of an attractive incentive
framework and a transparent, predictable and facilitating environment for investments
in Ghana’’.

It is believed that, the decision if not reversed by the finance
ministry, could see a massive drop in the inflow of strategic investments into the
country and it has the potential of scaring away existing strategic investors from
Ghana with the end result being a drop in economic activity and job creation.







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