Bawumia promises churches incentives instead of taxes

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the leader of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has revealed that his administration will offer incentives to Ghanaian churches in recognition of their role in the country’s progress.

He said that these kinds of incentives would motivate the churches to take on large-scale development initiatives. Dr. Bawumia maintained that rather than having taxes placed on churches by the government, churches should be paid for their services.

He insisted that churches are in a better position to work with the government to advance national development.

The NPP leader said these things while on his “Bold Solution for Our Future” national campaign trip, speaking to the clergy in the Bono East region.

“If you look at the work the church has done, we should rather be paying (giving them incentives) them instead of they paying us,” Dr. Bawumia said.

Dr. Bawumia emphasized the extensive role churches play in society, not just spiritually but also materially through the establishment and operation of schools, hospitals, and universities.

He pointed out the massive scale of these contributions, with many churches running hundreds of educational institutions.

According to him, these efforts by churches are integral in maintaining societal cohesion and providing essential services, making the idea of taxing them counterproductive hence the need for incentives to be given to them.

“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.