Henry Kwabena Kokofu and President John Dramani Mahama

A former Member of Parliament for Bantama, Henry Kwabena Kokofu, has characterised the removal of taxes by President John Dramani Mahama’s administration as neither new nor unprecedented.

According to him, the president is not the first Head of State to eliminate taxes, nor is it the first instance of a president removing or abolishing certain taxes.

Speaking on Peace FM on April 3, 2025, Kokofu referenced the tenure of the former Akufo-Addo-led government, which abolished certain taxes deemed burdensome and unnecessary.

He criticised Ghanaians for celebrating the removal of the E-Levy and the betting taxes, describing their reactions as excessive.

“I have seen all the newspapers reporting about the repeal of taxes by the president. In 2017, former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo also removed some taxes that were burdening Ghanaians and he [Mahama] is not the first to scrap taxes.

“Akufo-Addo’s government removed a lot of taxes in the country which was more than what the incumbent government has done. I don’t see the need for the funfair that is going on. They are acting like this is unprecedented,” he criticised.

Kokofu, also a former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), explained why the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had promised to scrap these taxes.

He stated that the revenue the former government had anticipated generating from the E-Levy did not materialise as expected.

Instead, he said it generated significantly lower revenues, failing to meet the set targets.

This shortfall, he explained, was a key reason behind the NPP’s decision to abolish the levy, had they remained in power.

“The E-Levy was reduced to 1%, and according to the records, the government initially expected to generate GH¢4.5 billion. However, by 2024, they were only receiving GH¢1.5 billion, indicating that people did not embrace it as anticipated. It wasn’t that the E-Levy caused hardships due to excessive taxation,” he explained.

He added, “Our leaders recognised that and thought it wise and appropriate to scrap it upon assuming power. Additionally, they sought to change the perception that it was a burdensome and nuisance tax. Since it wasn’t meeting its targets, there was little justification for keeping it, which is why we [NPP] decided to abolish it.”

On April 2, 2025, President John Dramani Mahama assented to a series of amended bills forwarded to his office, leading to the repeal of several key taxes, including the E-Levy, the Betting Tax, the Emissions Tax, among others.

MAG/AE

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