The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Pius Enam Hadzide has criticized the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for protesting the 10 per cent tax on bet wins.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) began implementing a 10% withholding tax on sports betting and lotteries on August 15, 2023, to generate revenue for the state.
The NDC in a statement signed by the National Youth Organizer George Opare Addo, on August 16, highlighted several actions that will be taken against the government if the 10 per cent tax on bet profits is not taken off.
Mr. Hadzide in an interview however condemned the action of the NDC for supporting the youth engaging in betting rather than advising them to focus on entrepreneurial skills.
“I’m pretty much scandalised listening to NDC, with the impression they are creating. If there is a problem with employment, in NDC’s view, young people should resort to betting, as a means of resolving whatever challenges young people are confronted with. I’m scandalised”.
“Let me just place it on record that, it is not just the Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who has issues with betting and what betting can do to the value system of any country, even the Minority Leader, Ato Forson has called on the state to ban all forms of betting”.
“The young people are being prepared for the future and if you want to lead the country, you should be discussing policies and not that there are hardships, young people should resort to betting, a game of luck, a game of chance. And that we are not going to encourage the Ghanaian youth who is hardworking, entrepreneur, by the way, to continue to work hard,” Hadzide noted in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Citi.
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Pius Hadzide also emphasised that Ghana like other developing countries is facing challenges with youth unemployment, but assured that the incumbent government is implementing measures to mitigate the issue.
“I do admit that just like other developing countries, there are challenges, youth unemployment, issues of education, issues of health…for the first time in this country, the young people of this country are now getting hope. Today, due to free SHS, hundreds of thousands of young people whose future would have been truncated at the basic level, are now in secondary schools,” he added.