The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has disclosed that his administration would provide churches in Ghana with some incentives due to their contribution to national development.
According to him, such incentives would encourage the churches to undertake significant developmental projects.
Contrary to calls for the imposition of taxes on churches, Dr. Bawumia argued that churches are to be paid instead of the government imposing taxes on them.
He maintained that churches are better positioned to partner with the government in driving development in the country.
The NPP leader made the remarks while addressing the clergy in the Bono East region as part of his ‘Bold Solution for Our Future’ nationwide campaign tour.
“If you look at the work the church has done, we should rather be paying them instead of they paying us.
“Unless you don’t understand the work the church has done. If you are looking at the buildings, the way they keep the society together, the universities, the hospitals, the schools, it is massive. It is just massive. Many churches have hundreds of schools. So I don’t see and I will not have a situation where we are taxing churches.”
“We will rather want to give churches incentives to support what the government is doing. I want us to be partners in the way that the development partners are with us. You are our domestic development partners and we will give you incentives to do more,” he noted.