Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, says the introduction of Electronic Transactions Levy aka E-levy by government is evident of failed governance.

Speaking to Samson Lardy Anyenini on Newsfile on Saturday, he said, “this is the first time I remember that government is allowing its Ministers to go out and claim they have failed.”

“It boggles my mind that the persons in charge of our economy admitting that it failed after five years of managing the economy and saying that the failure is so catastrophic that if we don’t give them more money we will crash. I can’t understand how that logic works in the first place,” he said.

He pointed out that if government failed to manage the economy in the first five years, the e-levy would not make any difference.

“If you have failed after record borrowing and incomes we’ve made from resources and other things after 5 years then you come to ask me for the same people to give you more money after you have failed especially when the sources of that money will cause further havoc in other places."

Mr Bentil explained that the introduction of the E-levy would have a massive effect on the digital economy.

Therefore, he wants the E-levy abandoned completely.

His comment comes after Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, warned of dire economic consequences for the country if the Electronic Transaction Levy aka E-Levy bill fails to pass.

According to the Minister, the economic gains made by government in recent years will stall if Ghanaians do not support the initiative.

“If we don’t do this E-levy, we are just pushing ourselves in a way that would potentially end up in such a disaster. There was a warning of that because last week was a very difficult week for the country," Finance Minister said.

Mr Bentil in reaction to Finance Minister's comment suggested that to deal with the problem of an unstable economy, there is the need for government to cut down its expenditures. He also advised for the cut down in the mistrial offices.

“You have 110 ministers, you can cut it to 50 nothing will change in this country. Who is funding the national cathedral and what is it adding to us? You absolutely can stop expensive presidential travels, you can stop driving 30 V8s to a function …. if you want people to join you in any form of sacrifice you must show an example,” he added.