Elvis Osei Mensah Dapaah, the Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South West, has accused the ruling government of encouraging Ghanaians to engage in betting by abolishing the controversial betting tax.

According to him, the president and the finance minister are pushing workers to abandon their jobs and turn to betting as a means of making money.

He argued that while betting may yield financial gains for some, the youth should be discouraged from engaging in it. However, he believes the government's decision to remove betting taxes will only encourage young people to abandon their jobs and focus on gambling.

Speaking in an interview on Oyerepa TV on March 17, 2025, he stated, “The cancellation of the betting tax says a lot to us…betting is a scam. We should not encourage the idea of abolishing the betting tax.

“I will say the NDC government wants to destroy Ghanaian youth by forcing them into betting. Now, even old women and men will engage in betting. It is clear that the NDC government wants to promote gambling.”

When asked if the youth in his constituency would quit farming to engage in betting due to the scrapping of the tax, he responded, “Obviously, the majority of them will go and bet.”



AM/KA

Meanwhile, catch the first in the series of our special episodes on Forgotten Forts on People and Places on GhanaWeb TV below. This episode focuses on Fort Amsterdam at Abandze: