Ghanaian actress, Joselyn Dumas, has said the newly-passed electronics transaction bill (E-Levy) will mark the death of  Ghana’s digitisation agenda.

The actress’ comment comes on the back of reports that people have started withdrawing monies from their momo accounts in a bid to close them following the passage of the E-Levy in Parliament on Wednesday, 29 March 2020.

The actress is of the view that the 1.5 per cent charge for the newly-passed bill on electronic transactions across the country will kill Ghana’s digitisation agenda.

In a tweet on Thursday, 31 March 2022, the actress said: “People are emptying their MoMo left & right. I guess we’re back to Cash System in Ghana.”

“E-Levy will be the demise of digitisation. The charges are ridiculous!… What???”

The E-Levy seeks to impose a 1.5% levy on some electronic transactions: mobile money transfers done between accounts on the same Electronic Money Issuers (EMI), Mobile money transfers from accounts on one EMI to a recipient on another EMI, Transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts (either directly, GIP debit, bank cards or another scheme), Transfers from mobile money accounts to bank accounts (either directly, GIP debit, bank cards or another scheme) and Bank transfers originating from a bank account belonging to an individual.

The main opposition NDC MPs in parliament staged a walked out on Tuesday, ahead of the passage of the bill.

The opposition have petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the passage of the bill null and void because, in their opinion, the one-sided majority that passed the bill did not form a quorum. 

Meanwhile, in his State of the Nations Address delivered in Parliament on Wednesday, 30 March 2022, President Akufo-Addo said "I believe the levy is going to make a significant contribution to revenue mobilisation and the management of the national economy," and went ahead to thank the legislators for passing the bill.