Exempt Persons With Disabilities From E-Levy-Disability Group Leader

The chairman of a disability advocacy group, Ghana Disability Forum, Mr. Alexander Tetteh has called for the exemption of persons with disabilities from the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy).

He said, he wished that the Government would listen to the cry of the general public and withdraw the E-Levy. However, if it succeeded in passing it, he would want persons with disabilities to be exempted from it.

He explained that, “Members of the disability community depend largely on mobile money transactions for their daily operations. Most of them don’t have bank accounts and so they keep their monies in momo accounts, and the introduction of the E-Levy will discourage them from the use of mobile money and which will affect them at the end of the day”.

Mr. Tetteh who is also the Director of Centre for Employment of Persons with Disabilities (CEPD) added that, the introduction of the levy would worsen the plight of persons with Disabilities in the country who were already grappling with the effects of unemployment and adequate social protection interventions.

In an interview with DisabilityNewsGh, Mr. Alexander Tetteh made reference to a situation happening in Cameroon, where it has been reported that the introduction of a similar levy by the Government of that country this year has negatively affected the socio-economic inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

According to the report, persons with disabilities in Cameroon who described the situation as social injustice, were requesting for exemption from the 0.2% levy.

Mr. Tetteh said, if a 0.2% levy has been reported to be negatively affecting PWDs in Cameroon, it should send a signal to Ghana’s Government how much a 1.7 or 1.5% levy would further push persons with disabilities in the country into hardship and poverty.

Since the Government of Ghana announced its intention to introduce a 1.7% levy on mobile money transactions, the citizens, led by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have kicked against it. The citizens are asking for a withdrawal of the levy but the Government insists that the levy holds the prospect of solving most of the country’s economic challenges.

In reaction to the opposition party and the citizens’ cry, the Government recently reduced the amount of the levy which is still before Parliament to 1.5% but has also been rejected.