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Scrap ‘unnecessary’ taxes in 2024 budget – Group
Ahead of the 2024 budget presentation on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, the Traders Advocacy Group Ghana has called on the government to scrap unnecessary taxes, such as the COVID-19 levy and the network service charge.
“How can you charge me a network service charge?” asked David Kojo Amoateng, President of the Traders Advocacy Group Ghana. “The network charge is something that has to go.”
Mr. Amoateng also suggested that if the COVID-19 levy is not going to be removed, it should be renamed to address different concerns, such as dialysis, kidney, or cancer.
“We from the trading sector expect that even if the COVID levy will not go, maybe there will even change the name to dialysis, kidney or cancer,” he said on the Point of View on Monday, November 13.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Thompson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dalex Finance and Leasing Company Limited, has warned of a looming economic downturn in 2024 if the government continues its current pattern of ever-increasing and large expenditure.
“As a country, what we must focus on now is how to protect the poor,” Mr. Thompson said in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Face to Face on Citi TV. “If you talk about cutting expenditure, there’s a long list of things we can cut, but we need to protect the poor, and we need to focus on health, education, infrastructure, food, and everything else because we are in a very bad place.”
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has indicated that long-term relief measures for the victims of the Akosombo Dam spillage will be taken into consideration during the formulation of the 2024 budget.
“We have mobilised a few things that we would like to share but I think we are also in the budget season and therefore it will not just be numbers that we are working on but true feelings in the field and therefore the need to look at these social interventions in a real way,” Mr. Ofori-Atta said after touring the affected communities a few days ago. “We will certainly give this an expression immediately and also in the budget.”
Source: Citinewsroom.com
Ghana Tourism Authority is leading Ghana’s participation at ITB Berlin, which opened in Berlin with a vibrant national pavilion highlighting Ghana’s rich cultural heritage, tourism destinations and investment opportunities.
March 5 has been designated as Ghana Day, a special platform to promote Ghana’s languages, cuisine, Kente, festivals and business prospects to the global tourism community. The stand has already drawn strong interest with traditional arts and crafts displays, immersive multimedia presentations and popular Ghanaian snacks.
Seven private-sector players are exhibiting alongside government officials as part of efforts to deepen trade partnerships, expand market access, and attract investment across the hospitality, heritage tourism, ecotourism, and creative arts sectors.
Ahead of the official opening, the Ghana delegation also engaged young Ghanaian investors in Germany in collaboration with V Afrika-Verein and the Ghana Embassy, strengthening diaspora investment linkages and highlighting opportunities within the tourism value chain.
Ghana’s coordinated presence at ITB Berlin 2026 reinforces its strategy to position the country as the Gateway to Africa and a competitive destination for leisure travel and global investment.
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
