Minister for Trade and Industry, KT Hammond, expressed frustration over the delays in approving tax waivers for factories under the government’s One District, One Factory policy. He accused the leadership of the Trade and Industry Committee of Parliament of obstructing the approval process.
In his 2024 State of the Nation address, President Akufo-Addo urged Parliament to swiftly consider the approval of outstanding tax exemptions from 2021 to send positive signals to the business community.
Speaking to Citi News, the Trade and Industry Minister alleged that certain members of the NPP leadership on the Finance Committee, in collaboration with the minority caucus, are deliberately hindering the approval of the tax waivers.
He stated, “Anything that they perceive will be in the interest of the country and coming from the NPP, their natural instinct is to rise against it.But on this occasion, it is not just only the opposition, there are also some elements in the NPP, on the committee’s leadership who are really creating problems and I have been fighting them inside and outside of Parliament to have the tax waivers issue resolved.”
Ranking Member on the Trade and Industry Committee, Yusif Sulemena, emphasized that the minority caucus would not support any further tax waivers.
He explained, “When we started passing those exemptions, it got to a point where we realized they were abusing them so we passed what we call the Tax Exemptions Act, and we want him to respect that act. If we were to go by that act, the exemptions he has brought us would not pass. There is no need to give any further tax exemptions because of the burden he has brought on Ghanaians when it comes to taxation.”
