New taxes will lead to job insecurity, collapse of businesses - Michael Obiri-Adjei

Executive Secretary of Ghana EXIM Frozen Foods Association of Ghana, Michael Obiri-Adjei, has said the passage of the three revenue bills in parliament will cause more harm than good to the business community and consumers at large.

According to him, the bills when accented into an Act, will lead to the collapse of businesses, as well as, render people jobless.

In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb Business, Mr Obiri-Adjei pointed out that there might be a shortage of wholesome foods in the country as importers may run out of business due to the multiple taxes paid on goods.

"The output of the bill will not in my view give government its intended revenue. What they will rather do will be to put a lot of people out of business, it will create job insecurities in the country and it will actually put us in a situation where we do not even have wholesome foods," the Executive Secretary of Ghana EXIM Frozen Foods Association of Ghana said in the interview with GhanaWeb Business.

Michael Obiri-Adjei noted that government would not rake in the targeted revenue as people would end up smuggling their goods into the country to evade taxes.

"Currently, if you want to import frozen chicken, for instance, you are paying about GH¢400,000 for a 40 ft container. A lot of people would want to circumvent that process and would want to smuggle things from other places. It cuts the FDA from really accessing what exactly is coming into the market," he stated.

Obiri-Adjei continued, "I think that the repercussion of this bill if accented and becomes an Act is more draconian than the intended positive outlook that the government wants it to have."

Touching on job security, he said investors would not want to pump their monies into Ghana businesses once there is instability.



ESA/MA