Trading of narcotics, its possession, production or anything relating to the substance is illegal in Ghana.
There have been several debates over the legalisation of the product which many believe would fetch the state millions of dollars each year.
A story carried by OnuaOnline Saturday, January 7, 2023, generated series of comments from various citizens adding their voices to the legalisation of the substance.
A Police intelligence operation on January 5, 2023, had led to the arrest of four suspects for the unlawful possession of over 104 bags of substances suspected to be narcotics at Lolonya near Sege in the Greater Accra region.
The four suspects, Prince Ntow, Felix Owusu, Jery Quartey and Mashack Daitey were arrested while discharging sacks of the compressed plant materials into a boat at the seaside at Sege.
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During the arrest, one suspect, Mashack Daitey who is the Assemblyman of the area attempted to bribe the arresting officers with an amount of Twenty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 20,000.00) which the officers refused and subsequently got them arrested.
The loaded truck with the substances was impounded at the Regional Police Headquarters together with the attempted bribe money.
“The four suspects were subsequently put before the Ashaiman Circuit Court on Friday, January 6, 2023, where they have been remanded into Police custody to re-appear on January 23, 2023,” a police statement had said.
But reacting to the story on social media, a user by name, Kanaree Dsat indicated it would be prudent for government to consider legalising the substance since it would fetch the state more revenue than the controversial Electronic transaction levy (E-levy).
“Legalise it, it’s better than E-levy,” he said on Facebook.
Follow the link below to check other comments given by people in support of legalising the substance.
https://www.facebook.com/110025133689375/posts/pfbid02XJVH73Hc4R5AnoYB69nyzceWf8BkkQoerka9MPi17MEgyNs4Rza3ddS14dvXSJjvl/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=KqmhJm
Many people raised concerns over government’s introduction of the e-levy during the presentation of the 2022 Budget statement in November 2021.
The back and forth for its approval in Parliament with the opposition and the public’s objection to the levy dissuaded compliance with many finding alternatives to avoid the tax.
This reduced government’s expectations for revenue collection from the e-levy in 2022 by at least 10 times, after the rate was cut and implementation delayed.
Government sought to generate 611 million cedis ($72.6 million) from the tax on digital payments, including mobile-money, compared with an earlier projection of 7 billion cedis made in November 2021, according to the Ministry of Finance.
By Felix Anim-Appau|Onuaonline.com|Ghana
