Before the proposed electronic transaction tax could be approved, there is information that the government has already contracted a private company to collect the tax for Government. In the 2022 budget, an amount of GHC 242m is allocated to pay the company for services it will be rendering to the state.
This was first disclosed by the North Tongu legislator Hon. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa on Facebook. Even though the deputy finance minister and MP for Ejisu constitituency debunked the claim of handpicking a private company as at yet, he admitted that a private company will be engaged to carry out the job that could had been done by Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Fast forward, The Herald, one of the most credible news papers in Ghana has published the identity of the company which will serve as receiver of the E levy. According to the publication which was intercepted by CitizenOne, a company called ExpressPay Ghana Ltd has been selected by the finance minister Hon. Ken Ofori Atta to do the job.
According to the painstaking investigation which lasted for several days, the company was listed in 2012 and has its offices in Ghana’s capital, Accra. The report has it that an amount of GHC 245 m will be paid to this company every year if the budget is approved in its current form.
Meanwhile the minister for Communications Hon. Ursula Owusu Ekuful was of the position that a Hiatian company Kelni GVG should be given the contract. To her, it was better a company with tract record was made to handle such a huge national asset. Nonetheless, The Herald stated that the finance minister succeeded in bulldozing his way to have his preferred company selectedt hrough sole sourcing.
It is not clear what interest the finance minister has in ExpressPay Ghana Ltd such that he insisted it must be the only company to do this job.
