Gov't needs the E-levy to pay District Assembly Common Fund – Ken Ofori-Atta

According to him, the government needs the E-levy revenue to take care of critical government expenditure.

He said it will help the government improve development effectiveness and facilitate local participation in budgeting and planning.

Speaking in Wa in the Upper West Region during the government's town hall meeting on the E-levy, Ofori-Atta said even though the revenue expected to be generated through the E-Levy may not bring in a lot of money, it would be enough to support the government.

"E-levy as small as you might think, it will be GH¢7 billion, starting this year if we had started early so we could pay your District Assembly Common Fund but your [opposition] sitting on it," he added.

He stated that the majority of the Members of Parliament (MPs) in the 11 constituencies in the Upper West are NDC and that he is not surprised they do not support the e-levy.

"If I look at Upper West where we have 11 constituencies…we have 340,000 people being youth with serious issues of unemployment with eight of our MPs coming from the NDC. What reason will they have to support an e-levy which is looking about GH¢10 billion intervention called YouStart which is looking at getting to the heart of employment," he said.

"Hate NPP all you want but what about your 340,000 youth who need jobs? What is the reason?" he asked.