GIPC launches 2nd edition of Taste of Ghana 2.0

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GIPC launches 2nd edition of Taste of Ghana 2.0

The Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) on Wednesday, 17th November, 2021, launched the second edition of Taste of Ghana, purposed to showcase and celebrate Ghana’s unique culture in grand style.

The launch, which took place at the Centre’s premises, served as the official outdooring for the main event dubbed ‘Taste of Ghana 2.0”, scheduled to take place on 27th of December, at the Forecourt of the State House.

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Read Also: 2022 Budget- Bawumia lied to us on taxation – MP

Bawumia lauds BoG, financial institutions over efficient payment system

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Bawumia lauds BoG, financial institutions over efficient payment system

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has commended the Bank of Ghana and financial institutions in the country for the immense roles they have played towards the successful implementation of Ghana’s payment system.

Speaking at opening of the 25th  Annnual Banking Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Accra on Thursday, November 18, 2021, Dr. Bawumia,  who is a fellow of the Institute, enumerated a number of initiatives that have led to the country’s successful payment system, and commended the Central Bank’s effective policies and the banks” investments.

“An efficient payment system is crucial. Ghana’s progress in the payment and settlement systems have been spurred by the Central Bank’s efforts to deploy relevant domestic policies to support a well-organized payment system.,” Dr. Bawumia said.

“Ghana has made significant strides in this regard through the launch of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS), Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), Cheque Codeline, Clearing System (CCC), the National Biometric Smartcard (E-zwich) and the National Switching and Processing System (gh-Link).”

“As banks continue to invest in digital platforms to facilitate ease in trade and transactions,  adopting a more fintech approach will spur innovation for the benefit of their cherished clients.”

Dr. Bawumia also acknowledged the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance for introducing friendly policies, which made it possible for financial institutions to support businesses, as well as enhance digitas Covid-19 and its economic effects ravaged businesses.

“Let me use this opportunity to acknowledge the Central Bank’s efforts in deploying comprehensive reforms and interventions, especially during these unprecedented times, by providing the financial sector with various regulatory reliefs that allowed banks to provide financial support to critical sectors of the economy as part of the COVID-19 policy responses.”

“I also acknowledge the Ministry of Finance for launching various policy initiatives such as The National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy, The Digital Financial Services Policy, The Cash-Lite Roadmap, among others as a way to deepen financial inclusion and accelerate the shift to digital payments.”

Read Also: Road toll order: We should’ve given hawkers notice, says Napo

“Such policies among other strides, continue to project Ghana as a nexus of digital payments. As we look to accelerate digitization on all fronts, leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a step in the right direction.”

With the introduction of the e-cedi in the offing, the Vice President urged commercial banks to be proactive in developing digital assets and products for different categories of customers.

“Banks should also leverage on the digitization agenda of the government to improve credit to the private sector,” he added. 

“I implore all stakeholders to explore possible synergies and partnerships in advancing digital technological innovation in a bid to redefine the banking sector which will ultimately spur economic growth.

“I reaffirm government’s efforts in spearheading the national digitization drive through robust policymaking initiatives and a conducive environment.”

 Dr. Bawumia also urged the Chartered Institute of Bankers to lead the charge in capacity building for an innovation-driven Banking  Industry.

2022 Budget- Bawumia lied to us on taxation – MP

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2022 Budget- Bawumia lied to us on taxation – MP

The Member of Parliament for Ejura Sekyedumase in the Ashanti Region, Mr Bawa Braimah Mohammed says the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia lied to Ghanaians when he promised that the NPP-Government will move the country from taxation to industrialisation.

He observed that during their (NPP) campaign, the Vice President said Ghanaians were paying so much taxes and therefore they would scrap many if they won power.

Unfortunately, he said that promise was a lie since the NPP-Government has introduced about 18 taxes since it assumed office.

Mr Bawa Braimah Mohammed was reacting to the 2022 budget which was read by the Finannce Minster, Mr Ken Ofori- Attah on Wednesday, November 17th, 2021 in Parliament.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, reading the 2022 budget in Parliament on Wednesday 17th November 2021, said government has decided to place a levy on all electronic transactions.

According to him, Electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances will be charged at an applicable rate of 1.75%, which shall be borne by the sender except inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient.

He also said the Government has suspended 50% benchmark values on selected general goods and the 30% on vehicles to make the measure more efficient and targeted.

Read Also: GUTA unhappy with suspension of 50% benchmark value

Speaking on Atinka TV‘s morning show, Ghana Nie, Mr Bawa Braimah Mohammed said, “Ghanaians are suffering, we have paid more taxes, this government introduced about 18 taxes when it came, when they were coming, they said they were not coming to burden Ghanaians with taxes. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said they will scrap all the taxes and move us from taxation to production. Now the Finance Minster says they have suspended benchmark values, and if the budget is approved, the prices of general goods will increase, this is going to burden Ghanaians.”

On E-levy, the MP said it was a regressive tax, because most people use Momo transactions and so if people have to pay 1.75% on every money sent, people may close their momo account.

He said people living abroad will also stop sending their families money because of the levy on electronic transactions.

The MP said the taxes would rather bring hardship on the people instead of saving their situation.

Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
Writer’s email [email protected]

Road toll order: We should’ve given hawkers notice, says Napo

Daniel Opare
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Road toll order: We should’ve given hawkers notice, says Napo

The Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (Napo), believes hawkers who have been affected following the cessation of road toll were given a raw deal.

The hawkers who ply their trade at tollbooths are complaining that they were taken by surprise when the government implemented the directive in the 2022 Budget in less than 24 hours of its presentation in Parliament.

Prempeh, affectionately called Napo, said the hawkers should have been given enough time to put themselves together.

“The women have a point. I won’t run away from that. Maybe on second thought, we should have given them time,” the Manhyia South MP told Accra-based TV3.

Why cessation of road toll

“Over the years, the tolling points have led to heavy traffic on our roads and lengthened travel time from one place to another, impacting negatively on time and productivity. The congestion generated at the tolling points, besides creating these inconveniences, also leads to pollution in and around those vicinities.

Read Also: E-levy: Sam George drags NCA, Ursula on Twitter

“To address these challenges, government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges. This takes effect immediately the Budget is approved. The toll collection personnel will be reassigned. The expected impact on productivity and reduced environmental pollution will more than off-set the revenue forgone by removing the tolls,” the Finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, said.

Hawkers upset

Hawkers who ply their trade at major tollbooths around the country are furious over the decision because the current “free-flow of traffic” is affecting their business.

According to these traders, running business at the tollbooth has been their source of income over the years hence the directive by the government will highly affect them.

“No one informed us about this decision. I’m taking care of my family. I came here this morning and suddenly we’re being told they are no longer taking the toll so it means there will no longer be traffic, and that affects our business,” a woman told Asaase News’s Nana Adjoa Entsuah-Hagan.

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfrom in the Greater Accra Region, Sylvester Mathew Tetteh, has said the traders would be relocated to another market to continue their business, adding that the young traders amongst them who aspire to learn a trade will be given the opportunity.

asaaseradio.com

Kufuor SHS appeals for funds for additional classroom block

Daniel Opare
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Kufuor SHS appeals for funds for additional classroom block

Authorities of the J.A Kufuor Senior High School are calling on government to help the school construct an additional classroom block.

J.A Kufuor Senior High School had converted some of their buildings into bedrooms to be used as residence for some of the teachers.

The other teachers have found separate rooms outside the school.

The Assistant Headmistress for J.A Kufuor Senior High School ,Sandra Owusu Afriyie,  made this appeal after the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH) made a donation to the school.

CCT-GH presented sets of computers plus other items to the school.

Madam Sandra Owusu Afriyie expressed her profound gratitude to CCT-GH and called on other benevolent givers to emulate CCT-GH’s act.

Read Also: E-levy: Sam George drags NCA, Ursula on Twitter

Speaking to the media, Chairman for CCT-GH, Mr. Kingsley Ayimadu said noted that the group received a request from the headmaster of the school for the supply of some computers to aid the smooth running of the school.

Mr. Kingsley Ayimadu added that as teachers themselves, CCT-GH saw the need to treat the request as urgent and come to the school’s aid.

“And so we decided to come to the aid of J.A Kufuor Senior High School with the said computers,” Mr. Kingsley Ayimadu added.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu | [email protected]

GTBank Di Asa 5: Five evicted from competition

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GTBank Di Asa 5: Five evicted from competition

Five more contestants have been evicted from Atinka TV’s flagship reality show, GTBank Di Asa Season Five competition.

The five, Big Mama, Pat, Obaayaa, Ayorkor and Kapaga were kicked out because they had no votes and were placed at the bottom of the voting chart.

This brings the number of active competitors to 48.

This year, 60 plus size women qualified across the country and converged in Accra to take part in the GTBank Di Asa Season five competition.

Although evictions are usually held on Saturdays, they were evicted on Wednesday because it had become necessary.

Read Also: 7 evicted from GTBank Di Asa Season 5 House

The five were given goodies from all the sponsors of the show in addition to GHC1,000 each to transport them back to where they came from.

The GTBank Di Asa Season Five will award the ultimate winner with a brand new salon car.

The first runner up will be given a mini truck (Abossey Okai Macho), while the second runner up takes home a tricycle (Aboboyaa).

Aside these, the queens will also enjoy goodies from the sponsors of the show.

Meanwhile, the public is encouraged to vote for their favourite contestants on shortcode *737*215# on all networks to keep them in the competition.

In other news: Cecilia Marfo’s ‘What Shawa Say’ takes new turn (VIDEOS)

Viral worship video of Ghanaian Female Gospel Artiste, Cecilia Marfo has taken a new turn on social media, just when the matter was dying out.

The Gospel Musician, who doubles as a worshipper was seen in a video seriously singing an English worship song, popularly known as “Thank You Lord”.

Although the lyrics are well known to many people , Cecilia sang her own English version.

In one of her worship videos, she was heard singing “What shawa say, unto the Lord,….” and at the same time, she was instructing one “Fire” to go back and sing and swing her legs.

Continue reading:

Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
Writer’s email [email protected]

E-levy: Sam George drags NCA, Ursula on Twitter

Daniel Opare
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E-levy: Sam George drags NCA, Ursula on Twitter

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George has dragged the Ministry of Communication and the National Communication Authority (NCA) for failing to engage Telcos on the E-levy.

Government has announced a 1.75% E-Levy on all Electronic transactions.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament today Wednesday 17th November 2021, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Attah stated the tax will widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector.

He added that Electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances will be charged at an applicable rate of 1.75%, which shall be borne by the sender except inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient.

According to Ofori Atta, the total value of transactions for 2020 was estimated to be over GHS 500 billion as compared to GH¢78 billion in 2016 while total mobile money subscribers and active mobile money users have grown by an average rate of 18% and 16% respectively between 2016 and 2019.

“After considerable deliberations, Government has decided to place a levy on all electronic transactions to widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector. This shall be known as the “Electronic Levy or E-Levy.”

“Electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances will be charged at an applicable rate of 1.75%, which shall be borne by the sender except inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient, ” Ken Ofori Atta told Parliament.

Read Also: 1.75 MoMo tax not replacing abolished road toll – MP

In a tweet, the Ningo Prampram lawmaker, who seemed displeased with the development, called the managers of NCA and the Ministry of Communications clueless for trying to organize a meeting with the telcos after the budget have been read.

 “Let me state for the records that the govt HAS NOT engaged any of the service providers in the telecoms space on how the draconian ‘digital tax’ would be implemented. How do you announce a tax when those to implement it & be affected by it are left in the dark? Clueless bunch.”

“The NCA and the Ministry of Communications are now inviting Telcos and Service providers in the space to a meeting on Friday to discuss implementation of a policy announced in the budget? Such a clueless bunch of managers. Post facto thinking, ” Sam George said in a tweet.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu | [email protected]

GUTA unhappy with suspension of 50% benchmark value

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GUTA unhappy with suspension of 50% benchmark value

The Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA) has expressed disappointment in government over the reversal of the of 50% benchmark values on some selected general goods and 30% on vehicles.

The Government suspended 50% benchmark values on selected general goods and the 30% on vehicles to make the measure more efficient and targeted.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who announced this when he presented the 2022 budget to Parliament, said the move was consistent with the government policy to promote local industry and improve foreign exchange earnings.

He said the Government was committed to a programme of turning enterprising traders into manufacturers of widgets, tools and other machinery necessary as inputs for industrial growth.

Earlier this year, the Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA) appealed to government to abort plans to scrap the 50% reduction in benchmark values.

This was after the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in a letter forwarded to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, signed by the Commissioner General, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, revealed that the move is informed by an agreement reached with the business community to, as it where,to generate more revenue.

In reply, GUTA insisted that, if the reversal is carried through, it will adversely affect their businesses.

Unfortunately, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta confirmed the suspension of the 50% benchmark on general goods.

Read Also: MOMO Agents Association unhappy with 1.75% levy

Speaking with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie, the President of Ghana Union of Traders Association(GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng said the move will rather make things worse for Ghanaians as compared to before.

“Initially they were speculations but now he has said it that they will scrap it. The Benchmark value did not just come, we had a problem and we went to see them to make them know about it and the President said something should be done about it and they brought the benchmark value. The benchmark value was government’s innovation because they said they had a challenge of reducing the duty rate and so they brought the benchmark discount value and so if it has gotten to a point you want to scrap it, then are you taking us to the serious problem we had before? or we have to sit down and see the way forward”

He continued that,”When the AGI comes to public to talk, they say our goods are very expensive and that the public did not benefit from the benchmark value, when people want to impose something, they can destroy the atmosphere, meanwhile when they are doing their lobbying, they say because of benchmark value reduction, the prices of imported goods are very cheap on the market to the extent that they cannot produce locally to beat the price. What contradiction or confusion is that? So they are the ones who have spoken about this for people to think that our goods are expensive, it is not true. We have saved a very daring situation that covid brought and the mitigating factor has been the benchmark value. If they should start with the scrap of the benchmark value today, prices on goods will double.”

Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
Writer’s email [email protected]

Instagram’s ‘rage shake’ lets you report app issues

Daniel Opare
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Instagram’s ‘rage shake’ lets you report app issues

Yes, we’ve probably all been there. So in an effort to give users an emotive solution, Instagram has introduced “Rage Shake,” a colorful new feature to gain feedback from its users.

You know the feeling when Instagram just isn’t cooperating — maybe it’s a bug, maybe it’s slow.

But you just can’t post the pictures you’ve been waiting to share all day.

The feature will allow people to literally shake their phones, after which a pop-up will allow problems or bugs to be reported, in detail.

You ever use Instagram, and it wasn’t working like it was supposed to?” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said in a Twitter announcement yesterday.

“And it was really getting you, really pissing you off?”

Instagram isn’t the first platform to introduce this sort of movement.

Read Also: 1.75 MoMo tax not replacing abolished road toll – MP

Google Maps has allowed user to shake their phones to report incorrect information or bugs since 2012. Meanwhile, Snapchat has done the same for over a year now.

Rage shake is available on iOS and Android, only in the U.S. for the moment.

The feature was rolled out alongside another addition: being able to delete a single image from a photo carousel. So instead of deleting an entire post, you can select individual images out of a carousel and remove them — a feature users have been requesting for a while. This one is available only on iOS, according to Mosseri, but will roll out on Android shortly.

Mashable

1.75 MoMo tax not replacing abolished road toll – MP

Daniel Opare
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1.75 MoMo tax not replacing abolished road toll – MP

Member of Parliament for Sefwi Akontombra Constituency and Vice Chair for the Roads and Transport committee in Parliament , Alex Tetteh Djornubuah , says the introduction of 1.75% tax on electronic transactions is not a replacement for the abolished road toll.

This statement by the lawmaker comes after the introduction of  a 1.75% E-Levy on all Electronic transactions.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament today Wednesday 17th November 2021, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Attah stated the tax will widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector.

He added that Electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances will be charged at an applicable rate of 1.75%, which shall be borne by the sender except inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient.

According to Ofori Atta, the total value of transactions for 2020 was estimated to be over GHS 500 billion as compared to GH¢78 billion in 2016 while total mobile money subscribers and active mobile money users have grown by an average rate of 18% and 16% respectively between 2016 and 2019.

“After considerable deliberations, Government has decided to place a levy on all electronic transactions to widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector. This shall be known as the “Electronic Levy or E-Levy.”

Read Also: Govt’s decision to abolish road toll retrogressive – Inusah Fuseini

“Electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances will be charged at an applicable rate of 1.75%, which shall be borne by the sender except inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient, ” Ken Ofori Atta told Parliament.

Speaking ot host of Atinka FM’s AM Drive, Kaakyire Ofori Ayim, Member of Parliament for Sefwi Akontombra Constituency and Vice Chair for the Roads and Transport Committee in Parliament, Alex Tetteh Djornubuah stated that the levy is to widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector.

According to him, government considered a lot of factors before taking the decision to scrap the road toll.

“ Aside the toll posing a lot of traffic situations, it is not all road users who pay the toll. For instance those who live around East Legon, Spintex and Adentan do not pay toll. And persons who live in these vicinities are considered to be living in the prestigious areas,” , Alex Tetteh Djornubuah told Kaakyire Ofori Ayim.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu | [email protected]

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