Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has responded to the Minority's criticisms regarding the government's tax waiver requests for businesses participating in the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative.

Despite objections from the Minority, who raised concerns about potential corruption and misuse of public funds over the proposed $449 million tax exemptions, Afenyo-Markin defended the initiative during his debate on the State of the Nation Address on Monday, March 11, 2024.

He stressed that tax waivers are aimed at stimulating economic growth rather than causing losses to the state.

Afenyo-Markin explained that tax exemptions are incentives designed to attract investments, which ultimately lead to tax credits benefiting the state in the long term.

“Tax exemptions are used to attract investments, but the NDC is looking at them with a very myopic eye. Let me explain to you that when a government introduces tax exemptions, it is aimed at driving economic growth, and in effect, these tax exemptions become tax credits. It is not for free, so the NDC should not mislead Ghanaians.”

“When a company is investing in our country and we say you are not going to pay taxes for imports of materials and equipment, what it means is that when that is given, it eventually becomes a tax credit, and the state will gain, and this is what the NDC could not do and does not understand.”