General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketiah says the party’s decision to oppose the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy alias E-levy is to save the Ghanaian economy.

The NDC had earlier said the levy if passed will burden the Ghanaian economy as it will take a toll on Ghanaian businesses.

Speaking with Blessed Sogah on The Pulse, Monday, Asiedu Nketiah said the NDC will pull the brakes on the E-Levy to avert the collapse of the economy.

According to him, while the party has an interest in winning elections, its core priority now is to prevent Ghanaians from experiencing further hardships under the current government.

“Our main interest should not be about winning election, it should be about saving the economy of this country…Our priority as of now is not about winning elections, they have that priority now that is how come immediately they were sworn in, they started talking about breaking the eight and so on. They are not worried about how to build the economy, how to improve the living standard of people. All they care for is what will make them win elections and if you run a country on that basis, you will run it to the ground,” he said.

He added that “if something is hurting the economy and we have a way of pulling the brakes otherwise it will collapse the economy, we have to pull the brakes. We won’t sit there to say oh let’s allow this unpopular thing so that it will bring them down and so on.”

He proposed that the government should cut expenditure as an alternative to the levy.

Speaking on JoyNews, he explained that the only way to seal the deficit is to “cut the expenditure proposals, and then you get a budget that is balanced.”

The NDC chief scribe believes there is a lack of accountability on the part of the government, hence, a reason not to relinquish more funds to the government.

“If I am your sponsor and I give you money to go shopping. You come back, and I say that account to me how you spent A, B and C, and you say ‘I am powerful, I am not accounting to anybody’, how do you expect us to give you more money,” he quizzed on Monday.

The yet to be approved levy has been a bone of contention between the Majority and Minority Caucuses in Parliament since its proposal.

While the Minority has vowed to vehemently oppose the levy, other tax experts have warned of grave consequences if the levy is approved.

Parliament will resume sitting tomorrow to continue with the debate on the levy.