Pius Enam Hadzide, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Youth Authority (NYA) has commended the government for the introduction of 10% tax on lotto winnings and betting.

According to him, the increasing number of youths engaged in betting “is a ticking time bomb” for the country hence the 10% tax will help to curb the menace.

The CEO of the national youth Authority stated that the youth are deviating from the national core values thus; diligence and honesty and rather focusing on short paths to enrich themselves.

In an interview on The Point of View on Citi TV, on August 21, 2023, Pius Enam Hadzide disclosed that the spate of gambling in Ghana is a threat to the education system.

“We have been concerned about the increasing incidences of gambling that are affecting even the education of children. Our assessment is that when you go to many of these betting sites, you see young people in uniforms betting. We have developed the culture that the Ghanaian is known as one who is hardworking, one who is committed to decent work and honest work.

Those are our values. This idea of young people attempting to get rich quickly is a dangerous path to chart for any country in the long term,” he said according to citinewsroom.com

The CEO of the National Youth Authority said that he is in full support of the introduction of the 10% betting tax and hopes it discourages the youth from gambling.

“So we have always advocated that the government should take steps to discourage gambling. We were looking at both legislative and physical measures, such as tax measures, to discourage and disincentivize people from indulging in excessive betting, especially now that our own research has indicated that the vast majority of the youth in our country are drifting into that area. In our view, it is a ticking time bomb.

"So we applaud the government because we have brought up this matter before past and present officers of state, and we are excited that the government is finally listening to us and implementing measures to disincentivize gambling,” citinewsroom.com quoted him as having said.

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