Accra, Feb. 27, GNA - Government would soon review the payment of rent advance required by landlords and landladies by updating the rent law to protect workers and also promote business in this country.
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, who read this year's budget statement on Thursday, said it had become increasingly clear that the practise of landlords and landladies demanding two to three years' rent advance is a problem for ordinary workers and prospective foreign investors.
Mr Osafo-Maafo said proposals would soon be presented to Parliament to work on the matter and government would thereafter enforce the law toensure that workers were not held to ransom.
The Law as it stands today states that: "Any person who as a condition of the grant, renewal or continual of tenancy demands in the case of a monthly or shorter tenancy, the payment in advance of more than a month's rent or in the case of tenancy exceeding six months, the payment in advance of more than six months rent shall be guilty of an offence and shall upon conviction of appropriate magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 pounds" (1960 Act 25 Section 5)."
Mrs Osafo-Maafo said government had also noted with displeasure that a number of vehicles, particularly of ECOWAS origin, were brought into the country under temporary license and later registered under fake licenses.
"In order to check this fraud in vehicle registration, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service CEPS will acquire the software for the monitoring of temporary importat! ion of vehicles to ensure that such vehicles, some of which eventually get registered in the country, pay the required duties and taxes."
He said the level of smuggling of excisable commodities, especially, cigarettes and hard liquor, constituted a very serious revenue leakage. He noted that I0 per cent of cigarettes consumed in the country is smuggled.
To halt this and help improve revenue generation, Mr Osafo-Maafo said the CEPS would introduce labelling of legally imported tobacco products and bottled spirits to distinguish them from local products.
He expressed regret that the Free Zones Facilities are being abused and announced that a Technical Monitoring Committee (TMC) has been formed which would conduct periodic audit visits to the Zones.
The technical committee would comprise representatives of IRS, CEPS, VAT Service and the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB).
He said CEPS would soon be disengaged from warehousing activities and made to concentrate on monitoring the warehouses. This will lead to self-policing on the part of warehouse providers.
