Mobile money agents and bankers are making plans to engage the government in order to strategise on ways to educate their vendors, following panic withdrawals six days after the implementation of the levy.

Many vendors have had to deal with impatient customers draining their wallets in protest against the e-levy.

According to some financial experts, the situation should be blamed on misinformation and inadequate education about the tax.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews, the General Secretary of the Mobile Money Agents Association, Evans Otumfuo, said government’s purpose to generate revenue from the levy to develop the country will not be achieved if effective education is not done.

“The communication on e-levy, so far, has been very poor. So, I am sure that government has some plans to ensure that all of us will really partner each other to explain this e-levy to the people,” he said.

Also, CEO of the Ghana Association of Bankers, John Awuah has reiterated the importance of education for a smooth implementation.

“Before the Act was passed, there were a lot of discussions on its justification. So, the attention was really not on the Act itself, the various exemptions, the waivers and the threshold.

“So, we have a lot of work to do now and in the coming days to educate people, particularly on the transactions that are exempted from the levy,” he stated.

The introduction of the e-levy was greeted with controversy with the Minority in Parliament taking up the matter at the Supreme Court.

Former President John Mahama is also on record to have said that the levy will be scraped should the NDC win power in 2024.

Subscribers also say they have become more cautious since the levy was introduced on May 1.

In an interview with JoyNews’ Samuel Mbura, some users of the mobile money service expressed their concerns about using the facility after the e-levy was implemented.

“For now, I only deposit when I want to buy airtime or something. I have most of my money on me. The e-levy has come to stay with us so I will still keep money in it. But for now, I just want to hold on until I have a better understanding of the e-levy,” a subscriber said.

Another subscriber noted that “I have even sent money this morning but not huge sum of money at least 100, 200, 300 maximum.”

The situation is not different in parts of the country where subscribers say they are unwilling to put their money in their wallets.