MINORITY ACCUSED OF POLITICAL HYPOCRISY OVER 1D1F TAX WAIVER ISSUE – AFENYO MARKIN

Story by:Yesmeen Abubakar Tetteh.

The Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Ghana’s Parliament has criticized the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority for what it describes as political hypocrisy concerning tax waiver issues.

Currently, Parliament is deadlocked over tax waiver requests amounting to approximately $350 million for 42 companies under the Government’s One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative. The NDC Minority, led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, opposes these waivers, arguing that Ghana, under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, needs to increase revenue rather than grant waivers.

Addressing the press on Thursday, May 30, 2024, Majority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo Markin accused the Minority of attempting to obstruct government business and hinder economic growth that could result from business investments and expansions.

Afenyo Markin highlighted that under former President John Mahama, the NDC government granted a more substantial tax waiver of $832 million to Meridien Port Services (MPS) in 2016. At that time, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson was the Deputy Minister of Finance. The waiver for MPS represented a significant 55 cents waiver for every dollar of their $1.5 billion investment.

Given this precedent, Afenyo Markin argued that the NDC lacks the moral authority to criticize the current tax waiver requests, noting that the proposed $350 million waivers for 42 companies are considerably less than the $832 million granted to MPS.

“As it stands today, the tax waiver requests for the 42 companies before Parliament are not even up to $350 million, compared to the $832 million tax waiver granted to MPS for their investment,” he observed.