The NDC’s National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, has taken aim at Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP’s Flagbearer, for his alleged lack of relevance to Ghana’s governance challenges.
During an interview on Onua TV on August 30, 2024, Mr Gyamfi accused Bawumia of being preoccupied with theoretical economic models.
He suggested that this focus has been detrimental to addressing the country’s real issues.
“Dr. Bawumia, all this while, has been focusing on textbook economic theories he learnt in school. He knows nothing about governance issues. He cannot relate to the suffering and hardship Ghanaians are going through. Any time he mounts the stage now, he cracks jokes that he alone finds funny,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi criticized Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for promising to remove the E-Levy tax solely upon his election to the presidency, asking why the tax isn’t being abolished right now.
Gyamfi argued that Bawumia appears more focused on preparing his 2024 election manifesto rather than addressing the immediate challenges Ghanaians are facing.
“In 2016, Bawumia went to sit on air and said there are too many taxes hurting Ghanaians. Today posterity has exposed him. Today he says when he is elected as president he will abolish the e-levy tax. Why can’t he do it now?
“Recently, he was asked by a journalist why the Akufo-Addo-led government can’t abolish e-levy now. Did you hear his answer? He said if it is abolished, he won’t have a manifesto. So, because he needs a manifesto for the pending elections, Ghanaians should suffer, so if he abolishes all the taxes the NPP introduced, what will the next NPP government do.
“This is the mindset of the NPP. Who told him taxes are the only problems Ghanaians are facing? Akufo-Addo has been saying that he is intelligent, so if he is that intelligent as claimed by Akufo-Addo, why can’t he advise the government to cancel the E-Levy and all the other taxes they have burdened Ghanaian’s with?” he stated.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has pledged to eliminate four taxes introduced by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government if they win the upcoming election. These taxes include the E-Levy, COVID Levy, a 10 percent levy on betting winnings, and the Emissions Levy.