Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi and Ranking Member of the Economic Committee of Parliament, has emphasised that the Minority is not seeking popularity with its opposition to the newly introduced GHS1 fuel levy hike by the government.
In an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Monday June 9, he emphasised that the Minority's opposition to the hike was not driven by a desire for popularity but by a commitment to uphold principles: "We are not looking for popularity here; we are looking at doing what we believe is right and consistent with the values that we have all expressed." He drew parallels to the earlier 1% Electronic Transactions Levy, noting that it faced significant public backlash despite extensive consultations.
According to Nkrumah, the current administration introduced the 8% levy without proper parliamentary procedures: "This administration has a lot of goodwill and decided therefore that it was going to introduce an 8% transaction levy not on people who elect to do any transaction but literally on every Ghanaian and they didn't even bother to give Ghanaians or parliament the courtesy of advertising it." He further criticised the government's lack of transparency, stating that the levy was not included in the budget and was introduced abruptly: "On the day they were bringing the levy they did not even advertise it on the order paper-midway through just before we ended hearing then they brought a one-page order paper addendum." Nkrumah expressed concern over the rushed passage of the levy and the subsequent public pushback, suggesting that the government may be reconsidering its approach: "Now you are beginning to hear a lot of pushbacks; government is now changing the dates for implementation.
It tells you obviously that there is a need to do a lot more engagement on this economic policy that the government wants to bring into being." He concluded by reaffirming the Minority's stance, stating: "We are not looking for popularity; we are looking to do the right thing." Read also You're abusing administrative powers, withdraw INTERPOL Red Notice - Ofori-Atta's family to OSP
