The Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG asserts that only the revocation of the 15% VAT directive can prevent them from staging a demonstration.

Isaac Bampoe-Addo, the Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG), has emphasized that the planned nationwide demonstration by Organized Labour is inevitable unless the government promptly withdraws a directive.

During an interview on JoyNews’ The Probe, Mr. Bampoe-Addo stated that no institution, especially the Ghana Police Service, can deter them from taking to the streets on the scheduled date, February 13.

“I can assure you that the only thing that can stop us is the withdrawal of this letter. The law is saying we should just notify the police; the police cannot tell us not to go on our demonstration, so we are just notifying them.

“At this moment, the only thing that can stop this demonstration from happening is when the government, through the Finance Ministry, withdraws this letter directing ECG and NEDCO to implement a 15% VAT on electricity,” he explained on Sunday.

Mr. Bampoe-Addo highlighted that his association, along with the 35 other organized labor unions, will embark on a massive demonstration if the government refuses to withdraw the directive.

This statement follows the determined stance of organized labor unions to oppose the implementation of the 15% Value Added Tax (VAT) on residential electricity consumption, as directed by the Finance Ministry to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO).

During the same show, Prof Mamudu Akudugu, the President of UTAG, rejected the assertion that workers are being unfair to the government. In his perspective, it is the other way around, as the public is being “suffocated” by taxes.