A private member of Parliament has introduced a bill aimed at amending the Value Added Tax (VAT) regulations to eliminate the 15 percent VAT imposed on menstrual hygiene products.
This proposed bill seeks to make modifications to the VAT (Amendment) Act of 2022 (Act 1082) to exempt sanitary pads and tampons from VAT.
Additionally, the bill aims to advocate for the reclassification of the existing 20 percent import tax on final consumer goods, designating them as zero-rated essential social goods. It also seeks to prohibit any future taxation of such essential social goods.
Francis-Xavier Sosu, a Member of Parliament representing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Madina, formally presented this bill to the Clerk of Parliament last Thursday. In the accompanying memorandum, which provides the rationale for introducing the bill, Mr. Sosu, a human rights lawyer, emphasized the global challenges faced by many women and girls in managing menstruation.
He clarified that menstrual hygiene management (MHM) involves the use of clean materials to absorb menstrual blood, with the ability to change them privately, safely, hygienically, and as often as necessary throughout the menstrual cycle. Mr. Sosu argued that the failure to address the menstrual hygiene needs of women and girls could have significant repercussions for basic hygiene, sanitation, and reproductive health, ultimately impacting the country’s progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals one, three, four, five, six, and ten.
These Sustainable Development Goals encompass various critical areas, including eradicating poverty, promoting good health and well-being, ensuring quality education, advancing gender equality, enhancing access to clean water and sanitation, and reducing inequalities.
“Despite the fact that about a quarter of the world’s population menstruates, 500 million people have been left without access to menstrual hygiene products, leading to period poverty”.
“Period poverty, thus refers to the struggle to afford menstrual products, and the increased economic vulnerability menstruating people face due to the financial burden posed by menstrual supplies,” the MP, who is also one of the legislators who sponsored the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which was passed to scrap the death penalty and criminalised accusation of anyone as witchcraft.
Citing reputable global sources, Mr. Sosu highlighted several significant factors that hinder effective menstrual management among schoolgirls in low- and middle-income countries. These factors include a lack of adequate knowledge about menstrual issues among schoolgirls, insufficient access to suitable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, limited availability of sanitary kits, and the presence of cultural barriers.
Furthermore, Mr. Sosu pointed out that on a global scale, women were twice as likely as men to report instances of discrimination based on their gender.
Given that women constitute the majority of Ghana’s population, accounting for 15.6 million people or 50.7 percent of the population according to the 2021 Population and Housing Census, and with approximately 85 percent of women relying on sanitary pads as their primary menstrual hygiene management (MHM) material, Mr. Sosu argued that the imposition of taxes on sanitary products did not align with the best interests of this demographic.
“Imposing taxes on sanitation pads which is as a result of their menstrual cycle which is a natural phenomenon is unfair, discriminatory and violates both national law (Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution) and various international laws and treaties such as Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Articles 24(1) and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on Rights of Children, and the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women, among others,” Mr Sosu said.
The MP highlighted examples from various countries that have taken progressive steps to eliminate taxes on menstrual products, underscoring the feasibility of such actions.
Mr. Sosu pointed out that Scotland made history in 2020 by becoming the first country worldwide to provide free sanitary products to all women. Additionally, he noted that Kenya took a pioneering step in 2004 by becoming the first country to abolish import taxes on sanitary products.
Moreover, Mr. Sosu mentioned several other countries, including Canada, Australia, India, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Lebanon, Malaysia, Colombia, South Africa, Namibia, and Rwanda, as nations that have implemented measures to remove taxes on “period products.”
On June 23 of the current year, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, expressed strong disapproval of the imposition of taxes on sanitary pads in Ghana.
He described the passage of laws by Parliament to impose the tax on sanitary pads as “unconscionable and a cardinal sin.”
“This House should not have allowed it at all. You know the impact of that law on human resource development and the development of this country is immeasurable. Why should we pass a law imposing tax on sanitary pads? We have to take immediate action to prevent whoever is the minister and is proposing it to take it off,” Mr Bagbin said.