Of Taxes and Tolls and NDC politics

Some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have vowed since December 9, 2016 that never would they allow President Akufo-Addo have any peace, but keep him always out of focus, so that he will not achieve his campaign promises.
After a good budget statement was read to all Ghanaians, and the business world got alive with strong reawakening and energy to do better than ever, we hear comments from the opposition condemning what they claim was a 419 Budget Statement.
Interestingly enough, while the NDC business community and investors are in a joyous mood over what they acknowledged as the revival of big time business and investments in the country, the NDC politicians are singing a different tune.
I had several calls from some NDC friends who applauded the new regime for saving their businesses. A few, actually added that from the look of things, many converts will cross over from the NDC to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) if the visions of this new business environment are achieved.
This budget read on behalf of the President by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, abolished what were called nuisance taxes, and reduced some to very low levels.
For example, the daily toll paid by female head porters, Kayayei, has been scrapped, and interestingly too, the VAT regime of 17.5% paid by traders was reduced to 3%.
This was joyous news, and it looks like everybody must go home rejoicing, however, this was not to be, since some NDC members went on bounty hunting.
Led by the immediate past mayor of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Okoe Vanderpuye, these NDC members went to the traders in the markets and convinced them that they should refuse to pay their daily tolls, if the Kayayei will enjoy exemption from tolls.
On the surface, it looked a good demand, since both head porters and traders generally work in the markets. So, since the tolls are meant to be used to clean up the markets and improve upon sanitation and safety, it will be fair for all to pay.
However, looking at the reliefs given to the two groups, it is obvious the trader stands to gain more than the head-porter, who is now asked not to pay the daily toll of GH¢0.50, or a weekly of GH¢3. The trader is to continue to pay GH¢3 a week.
Now, assuming that the trader used to pay a monthly VAT of GH¢100, plus toll of GH¢12 totaling GH¢112 pre-NPP budget, she is now going to pay about GH¢30 (GH¢18 on VAT and GH¢12 on toll, all things being equal) – a whooping GH¢82 savings, which could be reinvested into the business, so why should the market traders arise against the Kayayei?
One will assume that they are yet to realise the huge savings they will make on VAT, when the budget is implemented. And so, one would understand why they were so easily misled by people who know what these traders will enjoy, but just want to create bad blood between the citizens and government, after all, we are talking equal rights here.
The plights of the Kayayei are truly lost on the general public, even including the traders who are their close associates. Most of them would have been nurses, doctors, bankers, office clerks and what-nots, had it not been that their fates turned bad.
Running away from outlawed bad culture practices like female genital mutilation and child marriage, these young women, some of whom were very brilliant pupils and students, end up in a Catch 22 situation, a mid-distance between the devil and deep blue sea.
Back home, they were sure to undergo the trauma of living with a husband about the age of their fathers or even grandfathers. Or worse still, have some crude blade cut off parts of their genitals. But, at least, they would still have a place to sleep in the comfort of their homes.
Far from home they gained liberty from these crude culture practices, but only to meet the worse: no decent accommodation and exposure to gangs who have sex with them for free, and even steal the little money they earned carrying head pans of wares from dawn to dusk. At least, the traders have homes and places to safely keep their daily sales.
The Kayayo who wants protection would actually pay for that protection. She will enter into contract marriage with this or that other man, who will feed from her, collect stipends from her, as and when, and also come as he pleases to have sex with her, all in exchange for protection rights.
The Kayayo cannot go back home, for it is risky and deadly to do so. When caught, the journey back home in itself could be life threatening. Ghanaians may recall one occasion when one of these vulnerable ladies was drugged and tied and bundled like a sheep and put in the baggage compartment of a commercial vehicle going up North. Had she not been rescued, she would have been history.
The Kayayo, on the average, can make GH¢3 a trip carrying wares of buyers, and assuming each trip lasts an hour, it will mean at least for ten hours a day she can take home GH¢30. How much of this will be stolen before dawn, or taken by the contract husband, is anybody’s guess.
The NPP, in its manifesto, has promised to build secured shelters for these vulnerable women. If that is done, then the next step will be to give them some training in various trades and vocations, while, at the same time, measures need to be taken to fully apply the law to protect our girl-child.
Until this is done, the Kayayei are still worse off, even with the exemption of paying tolls. Until this is done, we shall one day wake up and find our neighborhood flooded with street children, who were born in the streets and live off the streets, and have no culture to guide their conducts. They will come to steal and kill, and perhaps, we can only protect ourselves by killing them like they do in Brazil, where the police hunt down young street children like wild animals.
The NDC group leading this crusade to cause unrest among the traders should bow its head down in shame and allow the Kayayei to be. What benefits did the NDC give to these unfortunate vulnerable women?

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Some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have vowed since December 9, 2016 that never would they allow President Akufo-Addo have any peace, but keep him always out of focus, so that he will not achieve his campaign promises. After a good budget statement was read to all Ghanaians, and the business world got […]

The post Of Taxes and Tolls and NDC politics appeared first on The Chronicle - Ghana News.

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