The government did not engage the Association of Oil Marketing Companies before it introduced the revised fuel levy in Parliament, its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Riverson Oppong has claimed.
The businessman bemoaned the speedy passage of the revenue bill, describing the lack of consultation as “disrespectful”.
“There are two sides of the coin. The government will see one cedi but industry will see millions of cedis so that is how we saw it and it all stems from how we unexpectedly woke up to a law passed, asking oil marketing companies to add one cedi as a levy to the government,” he told Joshua Kodjo Mensah on GHOne TV’s State of Affairs on Monday evening.
READ: COMAC Rejects June 9 Implementation of Energy Sector Levy
“The shocking part of this was that there was zero stakeholder engagement.”
Dr. Oppong explained that the chamber he led was neither controversial nor combative that government could not work with on pertinent issues of which the fuel levy was included.
He said although they were not supportive of the levy, they were going to abide by it as they have always done with their tax obligations
Dr. Oppong disclosed that the chamber had appealed to government for a week-long window before paying the new levy in order to address challenges pertaining to their operations and costs.
It will be recalled that last week, Parliament approved a revised fuel levy after it was introduced under a certificate of urgency. The legislation will see GHC1 upward adjustment of prices of petroleum products.
The government has pitched the levy increment as a measure to forestall a possible power sector collapse.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Mitchell Asare Amoamah
