E-Levy platform not yet fully operational, says Kwaku Kwarteng

Kwaku Kwarteng, the chairman of the finance committee in Parliament, has said the technical infrastructure needed to fully operationalise the implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy), is not in place yet.

He said the technical infrastructure is still being worked on by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

To the extent that this system is not fully operational, means that it is too early to conclude that the E-Levy policy of the government has failed, Kwarteng said in an interview with Asaase Radio.

Emphasising his argument, Kwarteng noted; “In fact, the implementation has not fully even begun and I say that because the e-levy is supposed to be collected on an electronic platform so that if you’re paying a GHC100 through your “MoMo number” if you try to pay the next GHC100 through your bank account afterwards, the system would know that you have already exhausted your threshold”.

“That platform has not come into effect yet. And because it hasn’t come into effect, real-time monitoring is not possible. So even the figures we are seeing, I’m not sure we have collected from all the collecting agencies,” he added.

Early days yet
He said the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is seeking to complete the building of the platform which will require all its collecting agencies to declare the various sums they receive on behalf of the state.

“When they declare, the GRA will then have the opportunity to audit before they put out the accurate figures”. To this end, he stated that the conversation about the failure of the e-levy is unscientific and the media should rather be focusing on the ongoing implementation processes.

“So even these figures that are being thrown out I don’t know if they’re right. Let us have patience, the E-Levy is a policy that went through a lot before we could pass it, let us take our time. If eventually, it turns out not to be a helpful policy, the government on its own will withdraw it,” Kwarteng said.

“I think it’s early days yet to conclude as such. Please, let the media not start this discussion about a big policy like the E-Levy that it has probably failed because somehow, we expected that you start the policy and immediately the money will be coming in. We’re not going to get that,” he added.