The Ketu North representative, Dzifa Gomashie, has lamented the rise in sanitary pads costs.
A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) claims that many teenage girls now engage in transactional sex with men as a result of this problem.
She lamented the effects of high sanitary pads taxes, claiming that they have forced many girls into transactional sex in order to obtain them.
In connection with this, the Association of Ghanaian Industries (AGI) has stated that it is illogical to call for the removal of taxes on sanitary pads.
According to the AGI, “much as the waiver of duties/taxes on imported sanitary pads for our young women to make the pads more affordable may sound good, this will only end up completely wiping out the few local sanitary pad factories left in our country.”
“Therefore, the Association is of the view that the call for the removal of duties on imported sanitary pads is misplaced,” the AGI said in a press release.
The AGI further advised against trying to eliminate taxes on imported sanitary pads.
The group claims that any action taken by the government to reduce taxes on imported sanitary pads at the expense of domestic producers will be bad for the economy.
According to a statement made by Seth Twum-Akwaboah, the CEO of AGI, “the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) wishes to caution Government that any policy measure that seeks to remove taxes on imported sanitary pads, at the expense of local manufacturers of same will be very detrimental to our economy.”
Such public discourse needs to be reconsidered, according to the AGI.
