A Plus Exposes Plan to Increase Sanitation and Pollution Levy to Make More Money for ‘Friends of the Gov’t’

The Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Honourable Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A Plus, has exposed a plan to increase the tax burden on the people of Ghana to raise money to enrich the pockets of just a few people.

In a lengthy screed shared via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, A Plus revealed that a plan has been hatched to frame Ghana’s sanitation crisis as having worsened under the nascent NDC government and to play on that to call for an increase in the sanitation and pollution levy.

He said a meeting was held by some shadowy figures who hatched this plan and those people, “Beginning sometime next week, will start flooding the airwaves and social media with carefully selected footage of filthy streets, choked drains, and uncollected refuse across the country,” said A Plus. “The narrative will be clear: sanitation has worsened under President John Mahama—despite the fact that he has only been in office for just three months.”

The first-time legislator said he will personally fight this plan to ensure it fails. According to him, the levy, since its introduction in 2021, has raised a tremendous amount of revenue for the government with no tangible improvement in Ghana’s sanitation crisis to show for it. A Plus said the tax – which is a 10 pesewa levy on each litre of fuel purchased in the country – yielded Ghc 264 million in 2021, Ghc 470 million in 2022, Ghc 550 million in 2023, and Ghc 646 million in 2024 for a total of Ghc 1.93 billion that has changed nothing in the country.

A Plus alleged, citing a report from the Fourth Estate, that most of the funds raised in 2021 at least, were paid to a sanitation company owned by controversial businessman Joseph Siaw Agyepong, popularly known as Jospong, the owner of Zoomlion.

He alleged that the current Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Ayine, is close friends with Jospong and part of the ‘cabal’ attempting to increase the tax to enrich his friend. A Plus vowed to fight to the bitter end to blow up their plan.

The legislator called for a new, decentralised system of waste management in Ghana.

“Now imagine this—if waste management were decentralized, every district could empower at least one hardworking, enterprising young person to build a successful business in sanitation. That’s 261 young people across the country who could become well-to-do “borla” millionaires through honest, impactful work. Wouldn’t you be inspired to see young Ghanaians earning a decent living while helping keep their communities clean?” He concluded.