Ghana@65 Independent Day Watch: 'SSNIT Loses US$11M After Liquidating Three Companies Is Means That Corrupt Practices In Ghana Under Akufo-Addo Are Alarming'
"Implementing the E-levy would equally result in the loss of jobs in the e-commerce and fintech industries due to a reduction in online sales," they explained.
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater 
The Auditor-General’s report of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) losed of US$11.8 Million after liquidating the three state-owned companies indicated that the growth rates of rots and corrupt practices in Ghana under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's administration have reached an alarming proportion.
According to scores of Ghanaians who spoke in a random interview with Soireenews.com on Sunday, March 8, 2022, in the connection of Ghana@65 Independent Day Celebration, they stated that they could understand why President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo still allowed the various managers of the state institutions which were cited in the financial malfeasance in Auditor-General’s report for the period ending 31 December 2020 to be at post.
They stated categorically that the SSNIT is an institution that is taking custody of Ghanaian workers' monthly salaries contribution towards "our retirement.
"But we want a state that as we speak now look at the rots and corrupt practices which are ongoing in SSNIT which we are saying is very alarming and worry.
"Aside from Article 71 that the public office holder is giving themselves their 7.9 per cent of their monthly salaries now if you go to SSNIT it is annoying to hear that some huge monies are missing and these monies are nowhere to be found," Ghanaians raised an alarm bell.
They could not fathom why within the report it stated that "whopping of the liquidation of the three companies investment GH¢147 million is missing, no supporting documents of the expenditure of GH¢ 141 million is missing and no retrieval of the divestiture produced of GH¢ 627 million is missing.
They also spoke about the missing of the almighty GH33.4 billion from two financial irregularities from 2017 to 2020.
"So these are happenings under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and if we accumulate all these lost monies we can declare Ghana as a free tax country but these monies have found themselves in individual Ghanaian pockets," they stated.
They argued that "individuals are richer than Ghana at the nation in which we are living now.
"So here the President came to tell we, Ghanaians to be tightened our belts. Imagine these small monies the government is given to us as our monthly salaries, even sometimes the government can stretch us for a week or two weeks before even giving it to us. We think that the current government is not be faired to Ghanaians workers who are currently working in government institutions who are going through this hell in this country," they stressed.
On the issue of the controversial proposed Electronic Transaction (E-Levy) bill which was submitted to the Parliament to be passed into the law, Ghanaians stated that the E-levy will not do any good for Ghana and its implementation would rather worsen Ghanaians economy.
They explained that the E-Levy, the government is asking us to pay, a year the accumulation of the E-Levy is GH¢7 billion, and that the GH¢52 billion in eight years contributions of the E-Levy.
They argued that "So if the government of the NPP and President Akufo-Addo are telling us that without E-Levy we cannot survive as a country is a complete lie they are telling us in Ghana and we should all raise again the passage of the E-Levy bill.
"This Because the implementation of the E-Levy would have negative impacts on businesses and impede the functioning of Ghana's financial system and the real economy.
"Implementing the E-levy would equally result in the loss of jobs in the e-commerce and fintech industries due to a reduction in online sales," they explained.
In addition, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Techiman North Constituency, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare reiterated that the Electronic Transaction Levy also known as E-levy, will not do any good for the country.
According to her, if gold, cocoa, timber, and other natural resources which Ghana is endowed with could not save the country, then E-levy is not Ghana’s saviour.
She, however, noted that E-levy harms the economy, so, the NDC Minority in Parliament has since dissociated itself from the levy.
Ofosu Agyare indicated that the NDC MPs have resolved to present all 137 Members of Parliament to vote against the E-levy Bill whenever it comes up in Parliament.
“We members of Parliament on the Minority side are for the interest of the country. We should bear in mind that a simple majority is needed for the passage of the Bill. So, if all the 138 members of the Majority are present on the day, the Bill can be approved. But even if that should happen, we the NDC MPs have washed our hands off the E-levy and its consequences,” she said.
“It is a tax that will not do any good for the country. If gold, cocoa and other natural resources couldn’t save us, will this do so?” Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare was questioned at the NDC Town Hall meeting in Kumasi on Monday.
The MP further indicated that the E-levy when passed will collapse businesses in the country.
She explained, a hundred thousand individuals in the mobile money business may lose their jobs since many will find alternatives of transferring money.
The Minority, therefore, proposed that government consider retrieving the 12 billion cedis lost to corruption in 2020 as stated in the Auditor-General’s report to make up for the lost revenue.
“Over 12 billion cedis, according to the Auditor-General has been lost to corruption and irregularities. We will tell the government to go after the money which is more than the projected revenue from the E-levy. The government will not get the projected amount since many will refuse to use the service when the Bill is passed,” Mrs Agyare stressed.
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