Konadu flays Mahama over taxes

Former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has observed that the lives of Ghanaians are being ruined through over-taxing by a government that continues to mismanage the economy.

The leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP) believes that the current economic challenges facing the nation are attributable to the mismanagement of public funds by the Mahama-led administration.

According to her, this inefficiency on the part of the government could be the only reason for the excess burden of taxation on Ghanaians, which also accounts for the dire economic situation in various households in the country.

Speaking on Hello Fm, a Kumasi-based radio station, Mrs. Rawlings lampooned the current tax regime and noted that Ghanaians had been overwhelmed by obnoxious tax and fine impositions by a reckless government that cares too little about the people’s welfare.

“We all know that over-taxation does not help any country. The fact that government needs money does not mean it should overburden the people with taxes. After all, they are responsible for the current challenges of the economy as a result of total mismanagement,” she asserted.

In the view of the NDP leader, the citizens would revolt naturally if they felt pushed to breaking point.

The former first lady questioned the rationale behind the taking over of revenue collection by private companies when the country’s laws mandate the Ghana Revenue Authority to do so, inputting that it probably denotes government’s inefficiency.

Voter Register

The NDP leader did not mince words when she was asked to state her position on the voter register, emphasizing that the electoral document is highly bloated with the names of foreign nationals.

According to her, the NDP was in the process of preparing its proposals for onward submission to the Electoral Commission (EC) to justify the need for fresh voter register ahead of the 2016 general elections.

Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings told listeners that a certain queen mother, prior to the 2012 elections, alerted her of the presence of some foreigners who were brought to the Central Region to register.

She narrated that she requested the traditional leader to make a complaint to the police at the time for a case to be made out of that, intimating that all these go to affirm her belief that the current electoral roll is not clean enough to ensure free and fair elections.