The Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2022, was passed by Parliament to provide for an annual adjustment of fees charged by public institutions.
The Bill is part of the revenue measures outlined in the 2022 budget and will provide legal support for the request for a 15% increase in government fees and charges.
When signed by the President, the new Act will review existing fees and impose new ones in accordance with the country’s economic conditions.
It repeals the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2018 (Act 983), which granted the Finance Minister the authority to set fees and charges in accordance with an enactment.
The amended Act would increase fees and charges by at least 15%.
During the Bill’s second reading, Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei Asare stated that the increases would ensure that the cost of fees and charges kept up with pricing trends.
According to the report of the Finance Committee of Parliament, a number of government agencies failed to lodge revenues collected in violation of Section 46 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016. (Act 921).
“Once again, some institutions collect revenues on the table or over the counter, then deposit them in their operational accounts and disburse them directly in violation of the Public Financial Management Act of 2016.”
“The Committee noted with concern that the practice does not give the Minister of Finance a complete or comprehensive view of the total revenue generated by all state agencies in each fiscal year,” the Chairman of the Committee, Kwaku Kwarteng, said during the motion for the third reading.
“The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Ministry of Finance should take immediate steps to ensure that all institutions captured in the Second Schedule of the Bill collect their revenues through a designated commercial bank or through the Ghana.gov platform from which the funds collected are transferred in gross into the respective holding accounts at Bank of Ghana.”
