Member of Parliament for Tano North, Dr. Gideon Boako, has revealed that he initially opposed the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), describing it as unnecessary.
Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Dr. Boako clarified that while he is not against taxation, he believed other approaches could have been explored, even though the levy yielded some revenue.
According to him, his boss and former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, also opposed the levy, which is why he pledged to abolish it had he been elected president.
The E-Levy was introduced in May 2022 by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government as a means of generating revenue for development projects. However, ahead of the 2024 elections, Dr. Bawumia vowed to scrap the levy—a promise that drew criticism from his opponents.
Dr. Boako, however, defended the former vice president, insisting that his stance was consistent with his earlier opposition to the levy.
“E-Levy was very unpopular, and my stance, just like Bawumia’s before its introduction, was that it was needless. And for me, indeed, it was needless,” he stated.
He acknowledged that many doubted Dr. Bawumia’s promise because the NPP government was still in power at the time.
“Of course, people didn’t believe him because his government was in power, and they expected it to have been abolished then,” he added.
Dr. Boako also reminded President John Mahama of his campaign pledge to scrap the E-Levy, emphasizing the need to fulfill promises that aim to reduce the financial burden on citizens.
While calling for an alternative revenue mobilization strategy after the levy is removed, he stressed the need for a more comprehensive approach to addressing Ghana’s fiscal challenges.