Remove 20% Special Tax On Frozen Chicken - Importer

A Kumasi businessman has called on the government to consider waiving the 20% special taxit imposed on the importation of frozen chicken as announced in the recent budget.

Mr. Kwaku Owusu of Kwaku Owusu Enterprise Limited, importers and general merchants, said the special tax would rather add to the price per unit of the commodity on the market and discourage patronage and consumption especially when no alternative arrangements are in place to sustain consumption locally.

Her said importers of frozen chicken were currently paying between ?90 million and ?100 million as dutyon a container of imported chicken besides 12l% VAT, 5% ECOWAS duty, port charges of $90 a day for delays in delivery and storage cost.

He also mentioned electricity charges of over ?228,000 a day while the Ghana Standards Board charge ?370,000.

Other charges on the importation include ?150,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); ?3.5 million by the Veterinary Services Department and $200 by the GSL (Destination Inspectors).

Owusu said these huge charges are being made at a time only 11 million out of the 24 million containers of imported chicken get consumed locally in a year.

He said the 20% tax should be waived and suggested the installation of a chicken processing plant by the government as a way out of the wastage in the system.

Owusu also recommended that for a start the government should grant loans to farmers to produce more maize as a step to encourage more people into raising domestic birds to feed the processing plant which will eventually turn out as a wholesale of chicken products to the consuming public.

The government could alsotrain personnel in packaging to ensure quality to meet international standards for export.

According to him production could increase from 30,000 to 80,000 tonnes over some few yearsat which point importation of frozen chicken could be stopped.

"This way there would be enough for local consumption and the surplus exported in order that the burden on consumers arising from high taxes and prices would be eased" he explained.

Similarly, Owusu is calling for a reduction from 5% to 2% in duty on imported fish. He said 1000 tonnes of fish now cost ?700 million and suggested a fish processing plant by the government to take care of the catch by local fishermen to avoid waste.

According to him most of the fishes harvested by the local fishermen go waste for lack of storage facilities.

The move, he said, would also help improve the protein intake of Ghanaians instead of discouraging consumption of fish which now cost ?150,000 a carton because of the duty which is pegged at as high as 5%.