By Mabel Esinam Awagah and Enock Ankomah
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has reiterated his commitment to promoting trustworthiness by implementing a common digital platform based on blockchain technology, to ensure traceability of all transactions across agencies. This, he said, is part of the strategy to build a resilient business-friendly economy and tackle corruption through digitalization. Dr. Bawumia stated this at the first Ghana CEO-Presidential Manifesto GALA dinner in Accra.
He emphasized that digitalization is the way to go in ensuring that all sectors of the economy contribute meaningfully to the growth of the country. He said his new administration shall embark on bold initiatives to make life much easier for the citizenry. Dr Bawumia maintained that Ghana cannot miss out on the fourth industrial revolution hence his much-touted policies hinging on digitalization.
He added that when he is voted into power as president in the 2024 general election, he shall among other things implement a flat tax rate aimed at simplifying the corporate tax system and reforming the value-added tax regime by merging all levies into a single-line item levy and treating the merged levy as part of input and output VAT for the business operators. Dr Bawumia urged the business community who will benefit from this significant gesture of his government to invest savings directly into creating jobs and growing their businesses.
“The list of innovative and bold solutions is endless. And it proves a point. I am committed to sustaining our positive growth metrics and building a resilient economic structure capable of delivering broad-based and inclusive development.
“And so we are going to move towards a flat rate import duty regime at our port with the provision that we should have lower port charges and duties.
“If elected, I will do so by introducing a radically new tax system beginning in 2025. Second, from all my interactions with taxpayers, what you want is a tax regime that is easy to understand, easy to comply with, easy to enforce, softer on the taxpayer, and certainly not dependent on discretion of the tax collector. I pledge to give you this.
“With your vote, we are able to implement the business-friendly initiatives which I have outlined in the NPP manifesto, Many of you CEOs, especially those of you who do business outside Ghana, will know that the challenges we face are common to our sub-regional peers and even throughout the global economy.
“The technologies driving this transformation, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, have disrupted entire industries. Through my digitalization drive, I have proven my knowledge of the issues and my readiness to guide Ghana, especially our young people, to take advantage of digital technologies to innovate and transform,” He noted.