“At that point I was joking” -Dr. Bawumia clarifies remarks on incentivizing Churches

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has clarified his recent statement suggesting the incentivization of churches for developmental projects instead of imposing taxes on them.

Addressing the clergy in the North East Region during his nationwide tour, the Vice President emphasized that his remarks had been misinterpreted and were made in a light-hearted manner.

Dr. Bawumia reiterated his appreciation for the significant contributions of churches and faith-based organizations to national development, highlighting their role in building schools, hospitals, and other essential facilities. He stressed the importance of supporting these institutions to continue their impactful work.

“Look at the number of hospitals the churches have built. Look at the number of universities the churches have built and the faith-based organizations have built. Look at the number of people the churches and faith-based organizations take care of on a daily basis. Can you imagine, just take a thought for a moment that you wake up tomorrow and all the schools, universities and hospitals the churches have built disappear. They just disappear. How would Ghana be like? Ghana will collapse. Isn’t it? We will not survive in this sort of situation because there will be chaos.”

“So at that point I was joking and I said, oh…people are talking about taxing churches. I don’t believe, and we will not tax churches. Because if you look at the work the churches have done, then I was joking then, maybe we should have actually paid them for what they did, not really trying to tax them. But I wasn’t really saying we should pay churches, no. I am saying that we should give incentives to churches to do more.”

The clarification follows his initial remarks made during a meeting with the clergy in the Bono East region, where he had suggested that considering the extensive work done by churches, they might deserve payments rather than taxation.

“Unless you don’t understand the work the church has done. If you are looking at the buildings, the way they keep the society together, the universities, the hospitals, the schools, it is massive. It is just massive. Many churches have hundreds of schools. So I don’t see and I will not have a situation where we are taxing churches.

Dr. Bawumia reiterated his commitment to fostering a partnership between the government and churches, offering incentives to support their efforts in national development. He emphasized the need for collaboration akin to that with development partners, positioning churches as domestic development partners deserving of support and encouragement.

“We will rather want to give churches incentives to support what the government is doing. I want us to be partners in the way that the development partners are with us. You are our domestic development partners and we will give you incentives to do more.”