By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, Aug. 26, GNA – President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday signed the Tribunal Bill together with nine other Bills passed by Parliament into law.
The Tribunal Bill seeks to establish a legal framework for the operation of tribunals in Ghana.
The nine other Bills assented to by the President included Customs Bill, 2026; Community Service Bill, 2026; Tribunal Bills, 2026; Maritime and Related Offences Bill, 2026; and the National Defence University Bill, 2026.
The rest were Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026; Energy Sector Levies (Amendment) Bill, 2026; Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026; Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026; and Excise Bill, 2026.
President Mahama in his address after the signing of the 10 Bills noted that the Customs Act incorporates consolidated provisions and subsequent amendments that had been done over the years into one single document, which therefore codifies all the Customs Acts into one document.
He said the Act would make it simpler to administer, more efficient, and would seal the loopholes that had made the government lose a lot of revenue as a result of the scattered nature of the laws.
President Mahama said the Community Service Act was an Act to provide for non-custodial service sentences for misdemeanours and other minor offences.
“Instead of putting people in jail and government going to have to pay for looking after prisoners, a lot of prisoners for stealing goods or for committing some very minor offences, they can be sentenced to do community service for the periods that they are convicted for,” the President stated.
Touching on the Tribunal’s Act, President Mahama said the Constitution made provision for the establishment of regional tribunals.
He said Parliament had passed it and that the law gave effect to the Chief Justice to set up regional tribunals to deal with certain categories of offences.
With regards to the Maritime and Related Offences Act, the President said it took care of crimes and offences that were committed at sea and it gave effect to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Ghana was a party to.
He said this was the local domestic legislation to enforce the Maritime Offences Act.
The President noted that with regards to the National Defence University a National Defence University has been set up to give effect to the University, accredit the courses and make it a legal and statutory entity.
With regards to the Income Tax Amendment Act, the President said the Act would exempt people who earn the minimum wage and below from paying income tax.
“And so, anybody who is on the minimum wage or below the minimum wage, is exempted from income tax.”
He said the Energy Sector’s Levy Amendment Act deals mainly with fuel oil for the factories and maritime vehicles that use fuel oil before they were exempt.
Adding that there was a lot of abuse in the system and so now they were required to pay the taxes and then present their evidence for reinvestment.
This, he said, was to plug a loophole that had existed for so many years.
On the Ghana Cocoa Board Act, the President said the nation’s cocoa farmers would be happy with the Act.
The President said the Act incorporates the reform of the cocoa sector.
“And it includes our promise that we’re going to process at least 50 per cent of our cocoa beans locally. And so, this Act incorporates that. Aside from that, the promise we made to farmers that they will earn 70 per cent of the world market price of cocoa is also contained in this bill. So, promise made, promise fulfilled,” the President said.
On the Value Added Tax Amendments Bill the President said it was to provide foreign adjustments in the value added tax.
He noted that recently they signed with the large scale gold miners to surrender 30 per cent of their gold to the Bank of Ghana and that the Bill exempts them from paying tax on it.
He said the Excise Act incorporated all the former laws and amendments on excise into one law, and so it would affect alcoholic drinks and cigarettes and other such goods.
President Mahama said the Act also importantly would give exemption from paying excise tax to local manufacturers of fruit juices.
He said the Government was supposed to give them an incentive in their production, adding that if one produces fruit juices locally, the Act exempts him from paying excise duty.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei