No cost, no contractor, no timeline – Minority caucus rejects fiscal electronic devices approval

Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has warned private sector partners involved in the government’s fiscal electronic devices project that they do not yet have parliamentary cover for the transaction. The Ofoase Ayirebi MP said Parliament has not approved any specific company, contract amount or implementation schedule for the project, describing the approval being sought by government as a “blank cheque”. Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the Minority was not against the rollout of fiscal electronic devices but objected to Parliament being asked to approve a multi-year commitment without critical details.

He explained that the project was originally introduced under the Taxation Fiscal Electronic Devices Act passed in 2018 to automate VAT collection at points of sale. According to him, government’s request for multi-year approval did not provide enough information for Parliament to make an informed decision. “They didn’t state how much the project will cost?

How many years this multi-year approval is for? And number four, what is the year-by-year fiscal impact?” he said. Mr Oppong Nkrumah said approving the request without those details would amount to giving government unrestricted authority over a major financial commitment.

“That was the point that we were trying to make to Mr Speaker: that if we give this approval without this information, it’s a blank cheque that has been given to the government, and no government, whether the NPP or NDC government, should be given such a blank cheque,” he stated. He said the Minority made it clear that it supported the fiscal electronic devices initiative but could not endorse a transaction without full disclosure. “We are not opposed to the fiscal electronic devices project.

We are opposed to the fact that Parliament is giving them a blank cheque on a multi-year commitment,” he said. Mr Oppong Nkrumah added that the Minority had raised concerns about other transactions brought before Parliament, including taxation proposals affecting international commerce platforms. He said taxing services such as Netflix and Starlink could create issues of double taxation because users may already be paying taxes in other jurisdictions.

“We explained to them in detail that people are already paying taxes on these products, wh… The Ofoase Ayirebi MP said the Minority opposed a request for parliamentary approval for the rollout of fiscal electronic devices because key information about the transaction was not provided. Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said Parliament was being asked to approve a commitment without knowing the total cost, duration, contractor involved, or the yearly impact on public finances.