The Director of Communications of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoa believes the party’s communicators are not projecting government policies and the E-levy enough to get a public endorsement.

According to him, majority of Ghanaians have accepted the controversial E-levy in principle, but the party and Government officials must further engage them for the policy to gain more public support.

He insists the e-levy remains a catalyst for Ghana’s development, but says communicators at the local levels are laid-back in stepping out to get the public to know more about the benefits the country can drive when the policy is implemented.

Mr. Buaben Asamoa spoke during an interaction with journalists in Kumasi.

“You will be surprised how many of our NPP officers at the local level are not talking enough about the government’s policy, especially e-levy. I was at a funeral and I took the time to speak to a lot of people. The NPP in the community is not stepping out to project the NPP. They must step out and boldly project the party and its achievements. It is very important.”

The 1.75% e-levy, now pegged at 1.5%, was announced by the government in the 2022 Budget on basic transactions related to digital payments and electronic platform transactions.

It is to apply to electronic transactions that are more than GH¢100 on a daily basis.

The government expects the levy to provide an extra GH¢6.9 billion to execute developmental projects in 2022.

According to the budget, 16.7 percent of the yield from the levy, will be used to support road infrastructure development.

Ten percent of the 0.25 percentage points, i.e. 1.67% of the yield from the levy, would be dedicated to improvements in public transportation, including the purchase of buses.

The levy is yet to be approved by Parliament, as efforts to have it passed faced some hurdles.