The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana has joined calls for the government to scrap taxes on imported sanitary pads to enable purchase by women and adolescent girls in every part of the country.
This comes after a group of civil society organisations stormed Parliament House on Thursday, June 22 clad in red, and held various placards to demand the scrapping of import taxes on sanitary pads.
Speaking to Citi News, the Executive Secretary for the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Asaki Awingobit said the plight of some women and adolescent girls’ inability to afford the high cost of sanitary pads must be considered.
“By not thinking about the plight of the ordinary citizens, by not thinking about our children in the junior high school, the senior high school, and even in the colleges, there some young women are finding it difficult to find money to buy sanitary pads to take care of themselves when they are on their period and so for us, we think that we cannot be chasing money and forget about the human aspect of it and so for me and my outfit, we strongly oppose it.”
The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) believes otherwise saying the removal of the taxes could result in dire consequences for the economy.
